


Let Him Go

by ArcticLights



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Again, Alpha Bokuto Koutarou, Alpha Goshiki, Alpha Iwaizumi Hajime, Alpha Kuroo Tetsurou, Alpha Mattsun, Alpha Oikawa Tooru, Alpha Reon, Alpha Shirabu, Alpha Ushijima, Alpha Yaku, Alpha Yamagata, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Beta Aone, Beta Futakuchi, Beta Koganegawa, F/M, Fluff, Getting Together, Happy Ending, I brought in the whole iron wall actually it was great, I know with the song choice it looks like a break-up fic but IT IS NOT, I smuggled in my cinnamon roll, I'm a little mean to Yachi too and I'm also sorry for that, I'm pretty mean to Tendou in this I'm sorry, M/M, Mpreg, Omega Akaashi Keiji, Omega Daichi, Omega Kawanishi, Omega Makki, Omega Semi, Omega Sugawara Koushi, Omega Tendou, Omega Yachi, Songfic, lots of pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-03
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-09-21 19:03:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 27,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9562421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArcticLights/pseuds/ArcticLights
Summary: Tendou is in love with Ushijima, but doesn't want to hold him back so he doesn't say anything.Ushijima is in love with Tendou, but he hasn't realized it so he doesn't say anything either.The story in which Ushijima joins the Japanese International U-21 team and they have to deal with distance.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you Grace for doing my beta. Sorry that I threw another 100 page one at your feet.
> 
> Based off Let Her Go by Passenger.
> 
> Y'all I heard this song when I was driving home from Paso Robles and I decided it was perfect for ushiten. I so did not mean for there to be this much hurt for Tendou but my angst gremlin kinda took over >_> whoops.
> 
> Please don't kill me Hannah.

Tendou didn’t remember the room being this cold when he fell asleep. He curled in on himself more to try to warm up, but a cold feeling spread through his chest and he let out a whine.

 

_“Don’t come to our team, Tendou!”_

 

_“Monsters aren’t allowed on human teams!”_

 

_“Yeah, he does look like a monster.”_

 

Suddenly he was enveloped in warmth and comfort. Semi must have heard him whine and come over from his bed with an extra blanket to wrap himself around Tendou’s back. Tendou leaned into the touch and cuddled into Semi’s chest with a smile.

 

He didn’t often have nightmares from his younger days but when he did, someone from his pack was immediately at his side to bring him back to his happy place. More often than not, it was Semi because they shared a room in the dorms, but during training camps there was always someone sharing his nest just in case.

 

Being an omega wasn’t a bad thing in Tendou’s opinion. It had its inconveniences but it also made it so that he could potentially be with the alpha he had been in love with for three years. Granted he hadn’t actually mentioned this to said alpha, but they were best friends. That was enough for now.

 

The only negative thing he could think of were his heats. Since he wasn’t bonded to anyone he had to spend it in the heat rooms at the school alone, and ended up _severely_ touch starved every time. He always had help after his heats to get back to normal. When his third year rolled around one of the new first years, Goshiki, found out about his situation and refused to leave his side in the week after his heats.

 

Luckily for Tendou his heat cycle always ended a week before the preliminary rounds of the spring tournament. Once his heat was over he started to go to back to the dorms. The second he opened the door he was suddenly tackled by a familiar head of black hair.

 

“TENDOU-SAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!”

 

Tendou laughed and hugged the young alpha.

 

“I see that your bangs are as cool as ever, Tsutomu.”

 

Goshiki pulled back and gave him a beaming smile.

 

“Taichi is with me today too, Tendou-san. Are you hungry? Do you want to just go back to your room and nest? Should I get Ushijima-san?”

 

The last question caught Tendou off guard. _So even Tsutomu has noticed, huh?_ He shook his head and gave Goshiki a small smile.

 

“You’re going to make a great pack leader someday, Tsutomu, with how well you care for everyone.”

 

Goshiki flushed a bright red. Kawanishi walked up behind him and placed a hand on his mate’s shoulder.

 

“You shouldn’t baby him like that Tendou-san. It’ll cause problems when he’s pack-leader.”

 

“HARSH! You’re so harsh, Taichi! I’m just counting on him. I mean, he’s a first year and a regular and the one who’s going to become ace and pack-leader.”

 

Goshiki preened at the praise.

 

“I’LL DO MY BEST TO NOT LET YOU DOWN!”

 

Tendou laughed and Kawanishi sighed. Goshiki went to Tendou’s left and Kawanishi walked over to his right and they each grabbed one of Tendou’s hands. Tendou sighed with relief and looked at them both.

 

“I think I want to just go nest in my room, if that’s okay. I’m pretty worn out after the past couple days.”

 

Goshiki nodded and pulled out his phone. He sent off a text and leaned into Tendou’s side more.

 

“I asked Semi-san to bring food when he comes back. You still need to eat too, Tendou-san.”

 

Tendou hummed in appreciation as they walked back to the dorms. When they made it back to Tendou and Semi’s room there were extra blankets folded on Tendou’s bed and some warm double chocolate cookies on a plate with a note.

 

_Kenji and I will be back later with real food. You guys can relax here and have some cookies while you wait._

 

_-Eita_

 

Tendou smiled at the note and reached down to grab one of the cookies. The batter wasn’t too sweet but the chocolate chunks balanced it out perfectly. Leave it to Semi to bake perfect cookies every freakin' time.

 

After he finished the cookie he turned to go to his bed and make a nest and found that all the blankets had already been arranged by Kawanishi and Goshiki. They were waiting for him with smiles on their faces and arms open for him to join in. He grabbed the plate of cookies and handed them to Kawanishi while he crawled into the nest and settled himself between the two of them.

 

After he got comfortable he leaned into Goshiki and relaxed into the alpha’s scent. He was exhausted after the past couple days and quickly fell asleep. Goshiki wrapped his arms around Tendou and nuzzled into his hair and drifted off to sleep as well.

 

Kawanishi looked over at the pair with a fond smile on his face. Goshiki insisted that he only loved Kawanishi and they had bonded younger than most, but the young alpha had a special place in his heart for the team mom. He never left Tendou alone after his heats and Kawanishi knew that this was going to be a regular occurrence. Instead of getting jealous, like most omegas would, he decided it was better to help Tendou recover from his heats. He curled around Tendou’s back, wrapped his arms around both men and dozed off.

 

Semi and Shirabu came back to the room with five bowls of piping hot katsudon from the cafeteria to find the others asleep in the nest. Shirabu sighed and turned to Semi’s desk and started pulling out the food. Semi went over to the nest to slowly wake up the others and coaxed Tendou out of the nest. He grabbed one of the blankets from the nest and wrapped Tendou in it as he sat up to eat.

 

After they all had their fill Tendou crawled back into the nest. The other two omegas followed him in while the alphas moved Semi’s bed to put both beds together to give them all enough space to cuddle together. Seeing how touch starved Tendou got after heats always made the other omegas grateful that they had heat partners.

 

Semi was the only one who knew why he didn’t take a heat partner, but that didn’t make it any easier to see his best friend in such rough shape after every heat. Tendou was adamant about only taking a heat partner if he intended to have them as a mate. Since he hadn’t confessed to Ushijima and wasn’t planning to anytime soon he was going to be stuck like this for a while.

 

Semi knew he didn’t want to take Ushijima’s future from him by tying him down. Seeing how Ushijima was set to play on the Japanese U-21 team when he graduated, Tendou was going to hide his feelings. No matter how much Semi respected his friend’s decision, it still didn’t sit well with him that he was going to be left behind. It didn’t help that Ushijima had the emotional awareness of a potato.

 

After the whole group got settled in they fell asleep. The whole team had become accustomed to caring for Tendou after his heats even though he never asked for it. Goshiki and Kawanishi always picked him up from the heat rooms and Shirabu and Semi always got food for the whole group for the first day he came back. From there during practice the next day there were more casual touches than usual from everyone. Pats on the back, high fives, shoulders bumping into each other and the like.

 

Tendou always recovered from his heats quickly after becoming part of this pack, _his_ pack. They all came together to take care of him and it made him so emotional he wanted to cry. It was such a stark contrast from how he had been treated when he was younger and called a monster because he thought differently than everyone else. He always made sure to take extra care for everyone else to show his appreciation, and that landed him with the title of head omega.

 

When the preliminary rounds came up Tendou was back to his normal self and the team easily made it through to the final round. Surprisingly they met with a different opponent than they had the previous two years. Instead of the primarily alpha Aoba Josai team led by that horrendous flirt, Oikawa, they were greeted by Karasuno. The starting line-up had three alphas, a very tall beta, and three omegas, two of which were the captain and ace.

 

Tendou was wary of the new team. They weren’t familiar and Ushijima seemed to have a weird fixation with the orange haired first-year omega. During warm-ups the small boy ran up to the net and slammed the ball down in front of the attack line, catching all of Shiratorizawa and the crowd off-guard.

 

Shiratorizawa took the first set easily and it was looking like they would be moving on to nationals again this year. The second set, however, the Karasuno blocks became more effective and their teamwork with the blockers and the libero made it easier for them to attack. After going back and forth through a deuce, Karasuno took the second set when that damn glasses brat blocked one of Ushijima’s spikes straight to the floor. They alternated sets until the fifth set.

 

The fifth set began with the Karasuno third-year omega setter starting instead of the exhausted first-year alpha. He used different, but easier to figure out, strategies and Tendou was able to quickly adjust to his playing style. He was caught off guard, though, when suddenly the libero ran up to set the ball and the rest of the team came in for a synchronized attack. The setter managed to slam the ball past the unprepared block and out of Goshiki’s reach.

 

The set was a hard fought battle. There was one point where the glasses brat got hurt and left the game for a short while. The first-year setter came back into the game and it went to another deuce. The beta blocker came back and after going back and forth the match ended with the orange haired omega doing a back attack into an empty area of the court. Yamagata dove for it and managed to get a hand on it, but the angle was off and the ball flew out the back side of the court.

 

Tendou was rotated out and could only watch as the ball bounced on the ground and the gym fell silent. He sighed and tipped his head back.

 

“Farewell, my paradise.”

 

They gave their thanks to Karasuno, the coaches, and the crowd and started to walk toward the locker room, still in shock that they lost to this unknown team. As the reality set in, most of the team started to cry. Only Ushijima, Tendou, and Yamagata managed to hold their tears back; trying to remain strong for the rest of the team.

 

After they got off the bus back at the school the team went into the club room, put their things away, and changed back into their uniforms. They slowly trickled out of the room until the only two remaining were Ushijima and Tendou. As Tendou was about to leave he felt a hand grip his shoulder.

 

“Tendou, there’s no one else here. I understand if you want to cry.”

 

Ushijima felt Tendou’s shoulder start to shake underneath his hand. He stepped closer to Tendou and opened his arms and Tendou quickly turned around and started sobbing into his chest. Ushijima wrapped his arms around the omega in a gentle embrace as he clung tightly to the front of his shirt.

 

“I’m so sorry, Wakatoshi-kun. We should have won and taken you to nationals. You deserve better than losing to some flightless crows. If I had handled that first year omega better you-“

 

Ushishima shushed him and held him tighter.

 

“Tendou, it’s not your fault. We’re all frustrated and we all think we should have done something different to change how things ended, but it is what it is. We can’t change it now, all we can do is help the younger ones improve with the time we have left with them.”

 

Tendou continued to sob and rub his face in Ushijima’s chest.

 

“We should have had more time playing with them. We should have taken Tsutomu to nationals so he could experience it before becoming pack leader. I don’t _want_ things to end here Wakatoshi-kun.”

 

Ushijima hummed and rubbed soothing circles into Tendou’s back. Tears silently streamed down his face.

 

“I know. I didn’t want them to end here either.”

 

\---

 

March came all too quickly. A large chunk of the pack was graduating and it was hard on everyone. Ushijima was going to be travelling the world with the Japanese U-21 team, but the rest of the pack decided to stay in Miyagi.

 

Semi and Shirabu planned to bond in Semi’s next heat that wouldn’t start until after the new school year. Tendou was going to a local massage therapy school, Reon decided to study to become a teacher, and Yamagata felt he was suited to study business. Semi was going to increase his kitchen repertoire and go to culinary school.

 

The younger members of the pack sat in the crowd and watched with pride as each of their sempai received their diplomas. After the ceremony was over they all met up at the gym for their last goodbye with all of them as students. Shirabu stood by Semi’s side, holding his hand. Reon stood to the side with his arms crossed over his chest and a soft smile on his face. Yamagata was laughing and talking animatedly with Shirabu and Semi while Ushijima stood stoic by Tendou’s side. Goshiki was sobbing and clinging to Tendou while Kawanishi stood behind him and rubbed his back.

 

“I’m still going to come see you after your heats Tendou-san, I promise.”

 

Tendou chuckled.

 

“Tsutomu, you’re going to have your own pack to take care of this year.”

 

“YOU’RE STILL PART OF MY PACK EVEN IF YOU GRADUATE!” Goshiki wailed.

 

Tendou clutched the adorable first-year to his chest as tears streamed down his face.

 

“You’re going to be a great pack leader, Tsutomu. I still believe that with all my heart. You and Taichi will lead your pack to greatness together.”

 

Goshiki hitched another sob and Ushijima cleared his throat, causing everyone to look over at him.

 

“Goshiki.”

 

Goshiki wiped his eyes and turned to face the former pack leader.

 

“Yes?”

 

Ushijima gave him a soft smile.

 

“I’m counting on you.”

 

A fresh wave of tears streamed down Goshiki’s face and the rest of the pack smiled at him.

 

“YES!”

 

Tendou asked to be left alone with Ushijima so that they could talk and the rest of the pack left. Semi giving him a knowing smile and a raised eyebrow, to which he responded by sticking his tongue out before facing Ushijima.

 

“What is it, Tendou?”

 

Tendou smiled up at Ushijima with a light blush on his cheeks.

 

“It’s nothing big, just a little embarrassing is all. I went to the shrine yesterday to get this for you.” Tendou pulled out an omamori intended for safe travels. “Good luck with the new team.  I know you’ll be the best ace Japan has ever had.”

 

Ushijima took the charm and smiled.

 

“Thank you, Tendou.”

 

Tendou reached up and ruffled Ushijima’s hair before bringing his hand down to cup the side of his face with a sigh.

 

“I’m so proud of you, my miracle boy.”

 

\---

 

The day after graduation Ushijima left for Tokyo. His whole pack saw him off at the station, giving him various snacks and drinks for his trip and saying goodbye with tight embraces. He found a seat and settled himself in, pulling out his Japanese to English dictionary to study. Most countries had people who spoke English, so he figured he should brush up on his to make travelling easier.

 

The time passed rather quickly since he had absorbed himself in his task. When his station was announced he quickly gathered his things and waited at the door. Once he got on the platform he looked up at the signs and frowned. No matter how many times he came to this city there were always too many signs for him to feel like he comfortably knew where he was going. He hoisted his bag onto his shoulder and started to walk towards the exit before hearing his name being called out.

 

“Ohoho, if it isn’t Ushiwaka-kun!”

 

Ushijima scowled at the nickname and turned around to see who had called out to him. He saw a tall boy around his age with unruly bedhead, another with some insane silver and black spiked hair, and a smaller, more reserved boy with black hair and green eyes. He recognized the last two from the national tournament last year as being Bokuto and Akaashi from Fukurodani, the other boy looked familiar but he couldn’t place the name. Akaashi spoke up before Kuroo could yell some more.

 

“Please ignore Kuroo-san, Ushijima-san. If you don’t know where you’re going, you’re welcome to wait with us. Most of the U-21 team should have been on the same train as you so we can all go together to the hotel we’re supposed to meet at.”

 

Ushijima nodded at him and waited with them while Kuroo and Bokuto spoke animatedly with each other. It wasn’t long before the others from Miyagi found them. Sawamura Daichi, Sugawara Koushi, and a small blonde girl who introduced herself as Yachi Hitoka from Karasuno and all the third years from Seijoh met up with them.

 

Ushijima had known about Iwaizumi, Oikawa, and Matsukawa making the team but he was surprised to see all the omegas that had come along. He later learned that they were all mates to someone else who was on the team except for Yachi. She was the current girlfriend of Yaku, the libero, who was waiting for them at the hotel. She seemed to be extremely nervous being around so many people who were so much larger than her so Ushijima gave her a smile.

 

“Are you okay, Yachi-san?”

 

“Oh, uh, yeah. I-I’m fine… just nervous… Is your mate not coming Ushijima-san?”

 

He gave her a questioning look.

 

“Mate? I’m not bonded to anyone.”

 

This statement was apparently news to everyone because Yachi stared back at him with wide eyes and everyone else whipped their heads around to face him.

 

“Hold up. It’s no secret that I haven’t mated, but you aren’t bonded to that middle blocker, Ushiwaka-chan?” Oikawa asked.

 

“Tendou? No, we’re just good friends. You all thought we were bonded?”

 

Sugawara hummed.

 

“Well, yeah. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you without him by your side. You even smell like him right now.”

 

Thinking back, at the station Tendou was the last one to hug him. He had nuzzled his face in his scent glands while wishing him luck, but that was normal behavior for him. Tendou had always been one to give excessive touches and Ushijima had thought nothing of it. He shrugged his shoulders and let the matter drop.

 

“Unfortunately, I do not know where I’m going. I would greatly appreciate it if I could accompany you all to get to the hotel.”

 

The omegas looked at each other with concern but decided against discussing it further. They all went to the bus stop and traveled to the hotel. When they got there, Yaku was waiting outside of the doors. When he saw the group he immediately ran over and lifted Yachi into the air before bringing her down into an embrace with a huge smile.

 

After everyone checked into their rooms and dropped off their luggage the team members went into the conference room they were set to meet their coaches in. They were informed that the apartments they would normally be staying in during training and time spent in Japan were under renovations and they would be staying in this hotel for a couple days. The belongings that they had sent ahead of time were currently in storage but would be placed in their rooms once the rooms were ready.

 

Practice and training were to start the next day, but they were free to do whatever they wanted with the rest of the day. They were dismissed and the boys discussed among themselves things they would like to do. The ones from Tokyo offered to take the others sight-seeing, but it was decided that it would be best for the ones that traveled to rest and that they could all meet up for dinner.

 

Ushijima went back to his room and took a shower to loosen his muscles from sitting on the train for a couple hours. He took his time, relaxing since he was in no rush, then dried himself off with a towel and blow-dried his hair. When he walked back out into the room he scrunched his nose. The main thing he hated about hotels was that nothing smelled familiar. It smelled too strongly of cleaner and the sheets smelled like bleach.

 

He went over to his bag to pull out a pair of boxers to sleep in until dinner when a familiar scent wafted out. He dug through the bag until he found the source. The omamori that Tendou had given him the day before still smelled strongly of him. Ushijima imagined that Tendou had probably been fiddling with the charm in his pocket for most of the day yesterday and it brought a smile to his face. He set the charm on the bedside table and laid down for his nap, not as uncomfortable as he thought he’d be.

 

His alarm went off to let him know it was time to get ready to go out for dinner. The group had decided that going to a nearby okonomiyaki place was the best idea. They could all share the food and it wasn’t an environment where they had to stay quiet. It was going to be a good place to get to know each other.

 

The couples sat together and Oikawa pointedly took a seat away from Ushijima, next to Iwaizumi. Everyone introduced themselves: Sugawara was Iwaizumi’s mate, Sawamura was Kuroo’s mate, Hanamaki was Matsukawa’s mate, and Akaashi was Bokuto’s mate. Yachi was Yaku’s girlfriend, but he insisted that they wait until she graduated for her to make the decision on if they were going to mate. Ushijima had no partner and Oikawa couldn’t find the right person to settle down with, so he had flings almost every night.

 

It was very quickly discovered that Kuroo, Bokuto, Matsukawa, and Hanamaki were going to make too good of friends. They shared memes on their phones the entire night while Oikawa was groaning about there being ‘more of them’. Yaku and Yachi were off in their own little world while Iwaizumi was too wrapped up in conversation with Sugawara, Akaashi, and Sawamura to care. He tried to include Ushijima in on their conversation to save him from the rest of the table.

 

“Are you looking forward to travelling Ushijima?”

 

“Yeah, it’ll be nice to see the world. What about you all?”

 

Sugawara’s face lit up.

 

“I’m really excited about eventually travelling to China. I want to try Sichuan cooking. I love spicy foods so I want to try a lot of new things.”

 

Sawamura chuckled.

 

“I’m just hoping that Kuroo becoming more worldly will help him calm down a bit.”

 

Akaashi groaned.

 

“Oh my god, same with Bokuto.”

 

Iwaizumi chuckled.

 

“I can imagine how you would want that after seeing what they’re like with the memeteam duo.”

 

The food came and Sugawara, Akaashi, and Yaku took charge over the table and started to cook the various combinations that each person ordered. Ushijima made the mistake of asking for a taste of Sugawara’s, resulting in him having to down an entire glass of water when his throat was on fire.

 

Bokuto and Kuroo teased him about being a wimp so he challenged them to try it as well. Sawamura tried to warn Kuroo against trying Sugawara’s food, but was ignored. Both boys tried it and their eyes were watering while they pretended to be fine. They each ordered a serving of ice cream shortly after to soothe their mouths and owned up to the fact that it was probably the hottest thing they had ever eaten. Sugawara was eating it like it was nothing and Iwaizumi was chuckling to the side. He already knew better than to try his mate’s food.

 

The boys split the bill and walked back to the hotel to work off some of the food they just ate. Ushijima took some time to get to know the three calmer omegas, being told to call Sawamura by Daichi and Sugawara by Suga since that’s ‘what everyone calls them’. Akaashi stayed pretty quiet, keeping an eye on Bokuto to make sure he was staying in line. He learned that Akaashi was still a high school student and wouldn’t be able to go to all their overseas tournaments, just like Yachi. Suga and Daichi were taking online university classes so they could travel.

 

After they got back to the hotel they each went to their rooms to go to bed since they had to be up early for training. When Ushijima went back to his room it smelled a little better. His stuff had been sitting out so the smell of cleaner was slowly being over-ridden with familiarity. He laid back down in his bed and looked over at the table. The charm still sat where he had placed it before. He hadn’t realized that being somewhere so different from home and having it be the new normal was going to be so weird. He sighed, turned over, and went to sleep.

 

\---

 

Ushijima got up the next morning and as he was leaving with his sports bag he made sure to leave the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on his door. The last thing he needed was for the maids to come in and wash away all the familiar scents that were starting to fill the room. The players, and surprisingly Yachi, all met in the lobby before taking the bus to their training facility. Once they got there they loaded their stuff into their lockers and changed into practice clothes.

 

Yachi was standing with the coaches and someone who seemed to be their manager. The nets were already set up and there were other players there who seemed to be the reserves. After a few more players came in the coach addressed them all.

 

“We need you all to get used to working together. We already have our main line-up set, but that doesn’t mean that can’t change. You all need to work hard to either keep your starting position or prove that you should be moved into one. For now, I want everyone to warm up then we will have teams formed for practice matches. We need to see how well all of you work together.”

 

The manager gave Yachi some instructions and she ran over to the familiar group of alphas.

 

“Sasaki-san told me I should manage you guys today since I’m familiar with all of you. We need to figure out which rotation will work best for you.”

 

She looked over at Oikawa, Iwaizumi, and Matsukawa.

 

“I think that Oikawa-san should be bracketed by Iwaizumi-san and Matsukawa-san like he was at Seijoh…”

 

Then turned to Kuroo, Ushijima, and Bokuto.

 

“And that Ushijima-san should play opposite while Kuroo-san and Bokuto-san fill in the other spots for middle blocker and wing spiker. I know Bokuto-san is used to playing opposite, but I think this will be the easiest formation for you all to get comfortable with.”

 

Oikawa’s eyes went wide as he smiled at Yachi.

 

“Wow, Hitoka-chan, I’m surprised that you already had a formation in mind for us. It’s very well thought out.”

 

Yachi blushed and scratched the back of her head.

 

“Well, I did have to pay close attention to all of you when you were our opponents. I guess that helped a lot.”

 

Yaku laughed and slung his arm over her shoulders and pulled her close.

 

“That’s my girl, I told you that you could do this. Working with a different team will help when you go back to the club. You’re already proving that you’re better at this than you give yourself credit for.”

 

He kissed her forehead and clapped his hands together.

 

“Let’s do our warm-ups. We need to show them why we’re the starters.”

 

“Yes!” the rest of the team shouted in unison.

 

The boys did their stretches and Oikawa was talking to Kuroo, Bokuto, and Ushijima about how they like their sets and what kind of different attacks they do most often. After they finished stretching Oikawa tossed a few balls to each until he got comfortable with where he was placing the ball. They did more warm-ups as a team and then the coach blew his whistle and the players gathered around him.

 

“Okay, we will have two courts going at once. Teams A and B will be on one court and Teams C and D will play on the other. Let’s see how well all of you work together.”

 

Each team was assigned a manager to document how each player was doing, strengths and weaknesses as well as overall team data. Sasaki was with Yachi, since she was the official manager for Team A, and they sat on the bench.

 

Oikawa served first and the rallies went back and forth. Yachi noticed a very blatant pattern and by the time the score got to 7-3 in favor of Team A, Yachi looked over to the coach.

 

“Coach, can I call a time-out?”

 

He quirked an eyebrow at her and blew his whistle.

 

“Time-out for Team A.”

 

The team gathered around the bench and Sasaki handed each of them a water bottle.

 

“Oikawa-san.”

 

“Yes, Hitoka-chan?”

 

“You know why I called the time-out Oikawa-san.”

 

Oikawa flipped his hair.

 

“Whatever could you mean, Hitoka-chan?”

 

Yachi sighed.

 

“Do you really think no one has noticed that you haven’t set to Ushijima even once this set?”

 

Oikawa froze and Iwaizumi and Matsukawa started laughing into their hands. Iwaizumi looked over at Yaku.

 

“Yaku, you picked out a good one. I like her already.”

 

Yaku smiled and nodded while Oikawa pouted.

 

“Mean, Iwa-chan!”

 

“She’s right though. I know you hold a grudge against Ushiwaka, but that was high school. We’re playing professionally now and you need to act like it or you’re going to be replaced as the starting setter, no matter how good you are.”

 

Yachi hummed in thought and everyone turned their attention back to her.

 

“We can use your old pattern to our advantage. Since you’ve been ignoring him their blocks have shifted to block the left more than the right. Since Oikawa is still on the back line we should draw attention to the left.”

 

She looked up at Bokuto.

 

“Bokuto-san, just be a little more vocal than normal and Matsukawa-san should feign a quick. They’ll be distracted and Ushijima-san can slam the ball down and drive it home like he wasn’t in the top three aces list for no reason.”

 

Kuroo whistled.

 

“No wonder Karasuno beat you guys to go to nationals last year. Their manager is sharp.”

 

Ushijima looked over at him curiously.

 

“She wasn’t on the court? Their manager had black hair, glasses, and was taller.”

 

Yaku chuckled.

 

“That was Kiyoko-san, she was the third-year manager. Hitoka was in the stands since they only let one manager on the court at a time. That doesn’t make her any less of a manager. She’s very perceptive of her surroundings and she’s good at using the information to her advantage.”

 

Yachi blushed and started stuttering.

 

“Mo-Mori-kun, you’re gi-giving me too much c-credit…”

 

He walked behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and placed his head on her shoulder with a smile. She flushed impossibly red but leaned into him and Kuroo groaned.

 

“Dude, you’re at practice. Stop showing off that she’s here when our mates aren’t.”

 

Sasaki cleared her throat and the couple jumped apart and Yachi gathered herself again.

 

“A-anyway, make sure you start using Ushijima-san too. All of us know how effective he is on the court.”

 

The coach whistled again, signaling the end of the time-out and the players filed back onto the court. Kuroo was still up to serve and he served it along the line and broke Team B’s formation. They lobbed the ball back over and Iwaizumi picked it up.

 

“Chance ball!”

 

The ball was heading straight for Oikawa to cleanly set it and Matsukawa ran in for a quick while Bokuto shouted for the ball.

 

“Left!”

 

Bokuto took a couple steps in and Team B set one blocker on Matsukawa and two on Bokuto. Oikawa set the ball high and behind himself to Ushijima. The blockers scrambled to get to that side of the net but it was to no avail. Ushijima slammed the ball down with a thunderous noise that caught the attention of the entire gym.

 

Yachi cheered from the sidelines and Ushijima smiled at the feeling of slamming the ball down so effectively. Bokuto came up and slapped him hard on the back.

 

“Damn dude! That was loud! You gotta show me how to do that!”

 

Ushijima nodded and looked over at Yachi and mouthed a ‘thank you’. She beamed at him and gave him a thumbs up. The rest of the game Oikawa spread his sets out amongst the entire team pretty evenly, getting adjusted to their playing styles. They handedly beat Team B 25-14 and each team went to their benches for water. Yachi looked curiously over at the other bench.

 

“Why aren’t they doing their lap of dives?”

 

Yaku, Kuroo, and Bokuto immediately erupted into laughter and the rest of the team questioned why she asked.

 

“Well, whenever we lost a practice match at Karasuno the players had to do a lap of dives around the gym. Is that not normal?”

 

The coach walked up behind her with a chuckle.

 

“It’s not how we normally do things, but I like your idea Yachi-chan.” The coach blew his whistle. “The two teams who lost just now: one lap of dives around the gym. Get to it!”

 

The players groaned but did as they were told. After they finished their lap they came back as a group in front of the coach for the new match assignments.

 

“Now Teams B and C will go against each other and Teams A and D will go against each other. From now on, whoever loses the match is going to do a lap of a various drill. This will work both as motivation and as a tool to help you improve. No one is exempt from this, even the regulars will have to do it if they lose. Now go start!”

 

They played two more practice matches and all the players were getting exhausted. Yachi disappeared a couple minutes prior to the end of their last match after looking at her phone. Suddenly there was a commotion near the doors and all the omegas came walking in. Suga and Akaashi carried a large tub of rice each, Yachi carried a bag on each arm filled with pickles and other condiments, and Daichi and Hanamaki each carried a large pot.

 

The smell of curry wafted through the air and every player was drooling. The main team ran up to the omegas and looked down at the feast they brought in. Matsukawa looked over at Hanamaki.

 

“Babe, did you guys make all of this?”

 

“Mmhmm. We figured since everyone’s apartments were still being renovated they couldn’t make themselves a lunch to bring. Curry was the easiest thing to make in bulk for the whole team and Suga has an aunt that lives nearby and said we could use her kitchen, so here we are!”

 

Hanamaki beamed at him and without a second thought Matsukawa walked up to him, grabbed his face, and kissed him. Ushijima, Kuroo, and Bokuto glanced at each other before Bokuto tried, and failed, to quietly ask Akaashi a question.

 

“Akaashi… Did Suga make the curry?”

 

Suga quirked up an eyebrow and looked over at him.

 

“And what if I did?”

 

Ushijima, Kuroo, and Bokuto all immediately replied.

 

“I’ll just have rice, please.”

 

Daichi choked on air then started laughing heartedly. Iwaizumi clasped a hand over his mouth in an effort to stifle a laugh and Suga frowned at him. Akaashi sighed and grabbed Bokuto by the chin to force him to look at him.

 

“We all made the curry, he didn’t choose the roux. Now eat some or you get nothing at all.”

 

All three straightened up.

 

“Yes, sir!”

 

The omegas made an assembly line of sorts. Yachi stood at the front and handed out disposable bowls to each player and the line split into two. Suga and Akaashi dished out rice while Daichi and Hanamaki ladled out curry. The pickles and other condiments were laid out on a table for everyone to grab for themselves if they wanted to have any.

 

Ushijima and the others got their servings and went to sit on a bench. Most of them dug into their food but both Yaku and Ushijima sat with their bowls on their laps. Oikawa looked at them curiously.

 

“There’s no way you guys aren’t hungry.”

 

Ushijima looked over at him.

 

“I’m very hungry. But it would be rude to start when not everyone is here, so I’m waiting.”

 

Yaku nodded in agreement and the other alphas looked amongst themselves. Bokuto looked back over at them.

 

“Dude? We’re all here?”

 

“Do you not wish to eat with your mates?”

 

The other five stopped shoveling food into their mouths and swallowed the bites they were already chewing. They looked guiltily at each other and placed their bowls in their laps. A few minutes later the omegas came over with their bowls, Suga with a noticeably redder curry than everyone else, and sat next to their mates.

 

“You guys didn’t eat?”

 

Iwaizumi grumbled something under his breath and Suga laughed.

 

“You guys didn’t have to wait for us, but that is seriously adorable.”

 

He kissed Iwaizumi on the cheek and the rest of the group laughed. They ate and discussed how practice had been going. After everyone finished eating the coach whistled for all the players to get together again. The alphas didn’t want to let their mates go but they would see them tonight. The omegas cleaned up and took out the trash while the players started a new set of warm ups before getting back to playing.

 

The omegas stayed for one practice match, cheering on their alphas, Oikawa, and Ushijima who dominated the game. They said their goodbyes and the team noticeably deflated, especially Bokuto. Yachi noticed him slipping into dejected mode and before he had a chance she spoke up.

 

“Bokuto-san. They’re leaving now so they can go make dinner. So instead of getting sad just look forward to that, okay?”

 

Everyone perked up and focused back on the game. The main team won every match the first day and after the coach discussed their upcoming practice schedule they went back into the locker room to change and go back to the hotel. After Ushijima changed back into his normal clothes he checked his phone.

 

14:32 **From Tendou:**

 

_I think you’re still at practice so I’m pretty sure you won’t respond right away, but how was your first day?_

 

Ushijima smiled at his phone and typed back a response while he walked to the bus stop.

 

17:10 **To Tendou:**

 

_At first Oikawa wouldn’t pass to me, but he got scolded and we actually work pretty well together. He should have come to Shiratorizawa._

 

17:12 **From Tendou:**

 

_Well if he did that then you wouldn’t have been able to play with Kenjirou. And that’s not fun at all is it, Wakatoshi-kun?_

 

17:13 **To Tendou:**

 

_I suppose not. How is everyone?_

 

He looked up and saw that the bus was coming towards him. He pulled out his pass and hauled his bag onto his shoulder. He took longer than everyone else to get changed and they had all gone ahead. It was nice to have some quiet time. His new team and friends were nice, but some of them could be tiring. He sat in his seat and his phone buzzed again.

 

17:16 **From Tendou:**

 

_Tsutomu is still trying to get used to being pack leader, but I think he’ll have a handle on it soon. It’s definitely different without you here… Eita-kun and I are looking for an apartment to share and I think Reon-kun and Hayato-kun are trying to find one too._

 

17:17 **From Tendou:**

 

_Do you know when your apartment will be done?_

 

17:20 **To Tendou:**

 

_It should only be a couple more days at most. I can’t wait to sleep in a place that’s more comfortable._

 

17:23 **From Tendou:**

 

_You should let us throw you a housewarming Wakatoshi-kun~_

 

Ushijima looked at the text and hummed in thought. It would be nice to see his packmates again. It would help to get the new apartment smelling right, too. He smiled at the thought and got lost in thinking about how it would go. Apparently he thought too long because he felt his phone and looked down at the most recent message with a frown.

 

17:36 **From Tendou:**

 

_Or not… I understand if you’re too busy to see us, you’re representing the nation after all. I’ll let you get some rest. It was nice to hear from you._

 

17:38 **To Tendou:**

 

_Sorry, I got wrapped up in how nice it sounded. I will let you know my next day off after I get settled. Is that okay?_

 

17:39 **From Tendou:**

 

 _Of course!_ _ヾ_ _(_ _＠_ _^_ _∇_ _^_ _＠_ _)_ _ノ_

 

Ushijima laughed to himself a little. Tendou was the only one of his friends that used those silly faces and it made him smile every time. He was approaching his stop and gathered his things. He went back to his room and placed his bag in the corner then went to take a shower.

 

He hummed to himself while he washed his hair. The thought of seeing everyone had really picked up his mood. He finished washing up and dried himself off like normal and wrapped the towel around his waist. He walked back over to the bed and as he was about to lay down there was a sudden knock at the door. He opened the door enough to poke his head through and was met by Hanamaki.

 

“Hey. We made dinner too, if you’d like to join us. There are some tables out back near the pool and we set out the food there.”

 

Ushijima smiled and nodded.

 

“That sounds nice. I’ll join you in a few minutes, I just got out of the shower.”

 

Hanamaki nodded and gave him a smirk.

 

“You look a lot happier than I’ve ever seen you. It’s a good look on you, you should smile more.”

 

Ushijima raised his eyebrow at him questioningly and Hanamaki laughed.

 

“You didn’t notice?”

 

“No, not really. I did just make plans to see my old pack once our apartments are done though. I was just thinking about how nice that would be.”

 

“That’s awesome. It’ll be good for you, you’ve been pretty stiff since you got here. We’ll be downstairs, just come whenever you’re ready.”

 

Ushijima nodded and closed the door. He quickly threw on some acceptable clothes and made his way to the pool. He was greeted by large bowls of salad and pasta on one table and everyone sitting around the surrounding tables. Hanamaki gestured for him to serve himself so he did and went to sit at the noticeably quieter table with most of the omegas, Yaku, and Iwaizumi. Suga stood up and clapped his hands together.

 

“Okay, now that everyone’s here, let’s dig in!”

 

Everyone responded, “Thanks for the meal!”

 

They all dug in and chatted amongst themselves. Each slowly learning more about the others and gradually becoming more comfortable. Ushijima had been nervous about forming a new pack when most of them had been previous pack leaders, but for now it seemed like things were going to run smoothly. After they ate Kuroo got a devious smirk on his face.

 

“Who wants to come back to my and Daichi’s room and play some Cards Against Humanity?”

 

Ushijima tilted his head in question.

 

“What’s that?”

 

Suga placed a hand on his shoulder.

 

“Oh honey, if you don’t know what that is I don’t think we should taint you.”

 

Hanamaki called out in protest.

 

“He needs to loosen up! This’ll be good for him!”

 

Ushijima shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head.

 

“I don’t see why not.”

 

The alphas and Hanamaki whooped with excitement. They all helped clean up and headed back to Kuroo and Daichi’s room. Kuroo pulled a long thin box out from one of the drawers under the TV and took off the lid. There were several white cards and a smaller set of black cards filling the “Biggest, Blackest Box”.  Daichi sat on the ground and started to shuffle the cards while Bokuto and Kuroo moved the bed against the wall so they had more room to sit.

 

After Daichi finished shuffling the cards he set stacks of white and black cards throughout the circle of friends to give each person easy access to draw new cards. After the cards were passed out and everyone got their hands Bokuto clapped his hands together.

 

“SO! Who was the last one to take a shit?”

 

Ushijima looked back at him in shock.

 

“What?”

 

Akaashi sighed and flicked Bokuto on the forehead.

 

“Bokuto-san, Yachi is here. Stop being so vulgar.”

 

“Oh. Sorry, sorry. Who was the last one to drop a deuce?”

 

Akaashi sighed again and put his face in his hands.

 

Hanamaki raised his hand.

 

“It was me, that’s why I had to stop by the room on my way here.”

 

Iwaizumi looked over at him in disgust.

 

“Dude, you didn’t have to give us that much information.”

 

Hanamaki shrugged and drew the first black card.

 

“A successful job interview begins with a firm handshake and ends with __________.”

 

Everyone shuffled through their hands and place a card in the middle. Hanamaki picked them all up and shuffled them while everyone drew new cards then read each card out as he placed it in front of him.

 

“ _A much younger woman._ Guess it depends on the guy.”

 

“ _Drinking ten 5-hour ENERGYs to get fifty continuous hours of energy._ I have tried that, it doesn’t work.”

 

“ _Basic human decency._ I’m sorry, but I have yet to go to a job interview where the guy wasn’t trying to get into my pants. That one’s out.”

 

“ _A sad handjob_. I would really hope that if handshake was firm the handjob wouldn’t be weak, but who knows.”

 

“ _Advice from a wise, old black man._ Simba… remember who you are…”

 

“ _A sofa that says “I have style, but I like to be comfortable.”_ Dude, if you’re sleeping on a sofa that is not a successful job interview.”

 

“ _A kiss on the lips._ That goes back to that human decency card. Out.”

 

“ _Reverse cowgirl._ See, if Mattsun was the one conducting it, I would consider that to be a successful interview.”

 

“ _Racial profiling_. That one’s a bit too real. Out.”

 

 _“Unquestioning obedience._ Guys, this isn’t Fifty Shades of Grey.”

 

“ _Warm, velvety muppet sex._ I think someone has been watching a bit too much Jeff Dunham.”

 

Hanamaki deliberated over the cards and finally selected one out of the group.

 

“ _A sad handjob._ takes it!”

 

Akaashi put his hand out to take the black card and Bokuto’s prominent eyebrows nearly shot into his hairline.

 

_“Keiji.”_

 

“What? You have to factor in the card czar’s preferences too you know.”

 

Hanamaki laughed and handed over the card. It was Matsukawa’s turn next.

 

“This month’s Cosmo: ‘Spice up your sex life by bringing ________ into the bedroom.’ Ooo this is a good one.”

 

Everyone selected a card except Hanamaki and Ushijima. Hanamaki was glaring at two cards, one in each hand and deliberating for a minute before finally selecting one with a smile. Ushijima was blankly staring at all his cards.

 

“I wouldn’t want any of these things in the bedroom.”

 

Everyone started laughing and Akaashi looked up at him.

 

“Ushijima-san. This isn’t meant to have serious answers. It’s a game and you basically pick whichever one of your cards you think the person reading the black card would find the funniest. You don’t need to think about it so seriously.”

 

Ushijima nodded and looked through his cards again. He looked up at Matsukawa, who wiggled his eyebrows with a smirk, and placed a card in the middle.

 

Matsukawa shuffled the cards and read them out.

 

“ _A big black dick._ Good start.”

 

“ _Justin Beiber._ What the fuck is wrong with you?”

 

“ _Filling every orifice with butterscotch pudding._ I wouldn’t mind eating that out of-“

 

Iwaizumi reached behind himself to pull the bible off the nightstand and threw it at Matsukawa.

 

“Okay, okay. Geeze. The _Bible?_ Really?” Matsukawa cleared his throat before continuing, _"A_ _surprising amount of hair._ That could get really freaky, really quick. Not bad, not bad.”

 

 _“A sex goblin with a CARNIVAL PENIS!”_ Matsukawa slammed the card down in front of him. “THIS ONE TAKES IT I DON’T CARE!”

 

Hanamaki started cackling and held his hand out for the card.

 

“I knew you would love that one babe. What’s scarier is I had another card that was just as good.”

 

Matsukawa laughed.

 

“You gotta tell me when you play it.”

 

Oikawa drew his black card and read it out.

 

“Now at the Smithsonian: an interactive exhibit on _______.”

 

Hanamaki nudged Matsukawa to let him know he was going to play the card. After everyone’s cards were played Oikawa shuffled them and read them aloud.

 

“ _The moist, demanding chasm of his mouth._ Most of you would love that exhibit.”

 

“ _Robocop._ I can think of someone else that has bionic parts that is _far_ more interesting.”

 

“ _Flying robots that kill people._ I doubt there would be a government that allowed that kind of interactive exhibit.”

 

“ _Sharks with legs._ Honestly, that would be interesting to see.”

 

“ _Moderate-to-severe joint pain._ Okay **_fuck you._ ** _”_

 

Oikawa practically squealed at the next card.

 

“ _A sweet spaceship._ I think I would probably live at the Smithsonian if that were the case.”

 

“ _Pretty Pretty Princess Dress-Up Board Game._ What the actual fuck? No.”

 

“ _Snorting coke off a clown’s boner._ Well, we know which card was Makki’s.”

 

Matsukawa gave Hanamaki a high-five.

 

“You were right babe, that was just as awesome.”

 

Oikawa rolled his eyes and continued.

 

“ _Actually getting shot, for real._ Why would anyone want to go to that?”

 

“ _Demonic possession._ Someone here watches too much Supernatural.”

 

Oikawa’s breath caught at the last card.

 

 _“_ ** _Darth Vader._ ** _Oh Jesus, how am I supposed to pick between my god and a space ship?”_

 

“Shittykawa, he was _not_ a god, he was a villain.”

 

“He was the ruler of an intergalactic empire who could use the force and survived being thrown into lava. He is my _god.”_

 

“How is this a hard decision, Oikawa?”

 

Oikawa glared over at Ushijima.

 

“Ushiwaka-chan. Why would I not want to interact with a spaceship? I know aliens exist but being able to use their technology would be amazing. I have to choose between being able to do that and interacting with my god. Of course this is a hard decision! I can’t be hasty.”

 

Ushijima just tilted his head in question.

 

“But if this Darth Vader guy is the ruler of an intergalactic empire wouldn’t he have his space ship as part of his exhibit?”

 

Oikawa gasped in a harsh breath and gripped his shirt over his chest. Iwaizumi, Hanamaki, and Matsukawa all muttered out an “Oh, shit.” and Oikawa stood up and walked over to Ushijima.

 

 _“This Darth Vader guy?_ DO YOU NOT KNOW THE WONDERS OF STAR WARS?”

 

“Uhh, I suppose not?”

 

This effectively ended the attempt at playing Cards Against Humanity. Instead they were all subjected to a nearly three-hour lecture about the Star Wars universe. Including, for some strange reason, a PowerPoint presentation he had on his phone.

 

By the end of it Ushijima was the only one paying any attention. The omegas had taken over the bed and made a cuddle pile with Yachi in the middle and were all asleep. Iwaizumi and Bokuto were in the middle of a heated arm wrestling competition and Kuroo and Matsukawa were trying to find the best angle to take pictures of the sleeping omegas. Yaku had gone somewhere, most likely to get coffee, because he wasn’t the type to sit through bullshit.

 

“Do you understand why Darth Vader is a god now?”

 

Ushijima shook his head.

 

“If he was beaten by someone who was far less skilled than him at using the force he wouldn’t really be strong enough to be a god.”

 

Oikawa ran his fingers through his hair and sighed out in frustration.

 

“Oh my god, forget it. You obviously can never understand. I’m going back to my room.”

 

Oikawa huffed out a breath of air and stormed out of the room as Yaku was returning. Everyone seemed to take this as a sign to finally go to bed properly. The alphas gently woke their omegas and got them off the bed except for Daichi who had only rolled over and stayed asleep. Ushijima helped Kuroo and Bokuto move the bed back to its normal place in the room. Everyone said their goodbyes, parted ways and went to sleep for the night.

 

After a couple more days the apartments were finally ready for everyone to move into. As promised the moving companies had brought all their belongings into the rooms. The whole team was given the day off to unpack their things and get settled.

 

Ushijima was grateful to be able to sleep in his own bed again. He missed the familiar comfort and his warm blankets. He made his bed then arranged his bookshelf and desk. His dad had bought him a laptop so that he could use it to communicate with him and his old pack through something called ‘Skype’ that was installed on it.

 

After he arranged his belongings in the way he saw fit he smiled and nodded at himself. He pulled out his phone and took a couple pictures of his apartment and sent them to his old pack. His phone immediately started ringing and he looked down at it. A silly picture of Tendou came up with his name and number appearing at the bottom and he answered the phone.

 

“Hello Tendou.”

 

_“Wakatoshi-kuuunnnnnn~! Your apartment’s finally ready!”_

 

“Mmhmm. I have next weekend off if you think the pack can make it. I don’t think I have enough room for everyone to spend the night though.”

 

_“We wouldn’t make you house us for a night Wakatoshi-kun, we can find a hotel. Did I see a laptop on your desk? When did you get that?”_

 

“My father gave it to me as a gift for graduating high school and for making the national team. He said he installed something called Skype on it but I have no idea what that is.”

 

_“We can show you when we go up there. That’s a program you can use for video chats so that you can see the person you are talking to. It’s really neat.”_

 

“That sounds convenient. I prefer to look at someone when I speak to them.”

 

_“Yes, yes. We know, Wakatoshi-kun. We’ll see you next weekend. All of us will be there, you can count on it!”_

 

Ushijima got off the phone and smiled. He hadn’t realized he was going to miss them all this much. He’d never really hosted a group of people before though. Maybe he should enlist some help from the omegas.

 

The team got together for their group dinner like they had been doing since they all came to Tokyo and Ushijima went into the kitchen to speak to the omegas.

 

“Umm…”

 

Suga grabbed a towel and wiped off his hands as he approached.

 

“Do you need something, Ushijima-kun?”

 

Ushijima scratched the back of his head and frowned. He knew that this was the best group of people to ask for help and that they would very likely be able to help him, but he hadn’t really thought about how he was going to ask or how he could repay them. He lost himself in thought and nearly jumped out of his skin when Suga reached up and touched his arm to get his attention.

 

“Are you okay Ushijima-kun?”

 

He cleared his throat and nodded.

 

“I, um… I don’t really know how to ask this.”

 

Suga nodded.

 

“It’s okay. Just tell us what’s on your mind and we will see what we can do to help.”

 

The other omegas had stopped what they were doing to approach him with concerned looks on their faces. He had never come to them for anything before, so they thought it might be something serious.

 

“Well, my pack is coming up next weekend and I was hoping to do something with them. I’ve never hosted anything though, so I don’t know what to do. All they told me was that they wanted to throw me a housewarming party.”

 

Suga and Hanamaki’s faces lit up and they were almost vibrating with excitement. The rest of the omegas sighed in relief, glad that it wasn’t anything bad. Suga reached down and grabbed one of his hands in both of his.

 

“Of course we’ll help! Oh, there’s so much we have to do! Makki you have a tablet, right?” Hanamaki nodded. “Perfect! We can make our lists of stuff we need there. We’re gonna make your pack feel super welcome, Ushijima-kun!”

 

Ushijima smiled and nodded.

 

“Thank you.”

 

\---

 

Tendou made sure everyone had the next weekend off. He spent hours in the kitchen making hayashi to surprise Ushijima. He had gone to the Ushijima household and asked the cook for the recipe so that Ushijima could have a taste of his favorite meal and of home. He had gotten a bit overly excited and made enough to feed a small army… oh well. Ushijima could freeze some and save it for future meals.

 

Everyone had agreed to meet at his and Semi’s new apartment by 8 am so they could get to Tokyo at a reasonable hour. Their train was set to leave at 9:04 so this gave enough time to make sure everyone had everything they needed. Reon and Hayato had gotten there early since they didn’t live too far away and Shirabu, Kawanishi, and Goshiki all came together from the dorms.

 

“Tendou-saaaaaaaan!”

 

Goshiki ran up to him and gave him a hug. Tendou smiled and held him close.

 

“Your bangs are still as cool as ever Tsutomu. Are you excited to go see Wakatoshi-kun today?”

 

Goshiki nodded into his shoulder but didn’t say anything. Goshiki looked up and saw the several containers of hayashi on the kitchen counter.

 

“Uh, Tendou-san?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Why is there so much curry on the counter?”

 

Tendou giggled a little and let him go.

 

“It’s hayashi, Tsutomu. And it’s a surprise for Wakatoshi-kun. I went a little overboard with the amount, though. I got a little too excited. He can freeze whatever’s left over. Okay everyone~! Grab a container and your bags. Does everyone have everything they need?”

 

They all nodded and grabbed their bags. As they walked out the door Tendou handed each of them a container of hayashi to carry then grabbed the last one for himself and locked the door. They made their way to the station and managed to find a car empty enough where they could all sit together. After they all got settled he pulled out his phone.

 

09:06 **To Wakatoshi-kun~:**

 

_The train just left. We should be there in a little under three hours. I can’t wait to see you Wakatoshi-kun!_

09:07 **From Wakatoshi-kun~:**

 

_I’ll be there to pick you guys up when you guys get here. I’m excited to see you too, Tendou._

 

Tendou blushed after he read the text. He knew that Ushijima meant the whole team but he could dream that he meant it the way he wrote it. He sighed and slipped his eyes closed. He was tired from cooking late into the night and not getting much sleep. Goshiki was sitting next to him with Kawanishi on his other side and they were holding hands.

 

Goshiki must have heard how tired he was and looked up at him. He beamed a bright smile and held his arm up in an invite for Tendou to lean against him and get some rest. Tendou accepted gratefully and leaned against the young alpha and slipped his eyes shut. He was woken up a couple hours later by Reon kneeling in front of him and giving him a light shake.

 

“Satori, we’re gonna get there soon. Time to get up.”

 

Tendou twisted his face in frustration and groaned. He had never been a morning person and hated waking up. Reon handed him a cold water bottle and let him take a drink. He looked around and remembered where they were going and it was suddenly much easier to wake up. He was going to be seeing Ushijima in a matter of minutes and before he could stop it a big smile came across his face. Reon chuckled.

 

“Yeah, we’re excited to see him too Satori.”

 

Everyone gathered their things and got ready to get off the train. Tendou was the first one off and started searching the crowd. He was grateful that both he and Ushijima were much taller than average because it made it very easy to spot the alpha.

 

“WAKATOSHI-KUUNNN~!”

 

Ushijima looked over to where he heard his name and smiled with a wave. Tendou was quickly weaving through the crowd and practically jumped on Ushijima in a bear hug. He rubbed his face in Ushijima’s scent glands and reveled in the familiar comforting scent. He could feel Ushijima’s hands rubbing up and down his back.

 

“I missed you too Tendou.”

 

Tendou could hear the rest of the team coming up behind him and Ushijima greeted everyone happily. Tendou didn’t let go and Ushijima didn’t ask him to. They both knew Tendou needed this and were letting things take their course. Ushijima shifted so that Tendou was to his side so they could walk to the bus stop they needed to go to. Everyone except Tendou was talking to Ushijima and asking him how the new team was working out and Goshiki was excitedly telling him how the new pack was going.

 

By the time they got to the apartments Tendou was able to peel himself away from Ushijima. Ushijima looked down at him with a smile.

 

“Feeling better?”

 

Tendou nodded.

 

“So, what’s with everyone holding food?”

 

Tendou beamed proudly up at him.

 

“It’s your housewarming party, Wakatoshi-kun! I made lots of hayashi so that we could have hayashi rice with you! Wait… OH MY GOD I FORGOT TO TEXT YOU TO MAKE RICE!”

 

Ushijima laughed and rubbed Tendou’s head.

 

"Don’t worry. There’s plenty of rice. That is way too much hayashi for just the pack though.”

 

Tendou blushed and looked away.

 

“I got a little excited and went a bit overboard. I figured you could freeze the leftovers for easy meals if you’re too tired to cook or you don’t have time.”

 

They approached the door to Ushijima’s apartment. He unlocked the door and turned the handle. He looked back at Tendou before opening the door.

 

“That’s if there are leftovers.”

 

The door swung open and the rest of the U-21 team and their omegas were already in the decorated apartment. The pack gasped when everyone yelled out “Surprise!” and Tendou nearly dropped his container of food. There were several snacks, a large pot of rice, some curry, and a couple ice-chests worth of drinks in the kitchen.

 

The omegas came up and took the food containers from the still shocked pack and Ushijima laughed.

 

“I didn’t know what to do when hosting friends so I asked for some help. These are my teammates and their omegas.”

 

Ushijima handled introducing both groups to each other and his pack was welcomed with literal open arms. Suga hugged each member and gave each a welcoming smile. After he was done they led the pack inside the apartment. Everyone mingled for a bit and Kuroo brought out Cards Against Humanity in hopes that they would actually get to complete a game. Tendou took out a pot and started to heat up some of the hayashi and Ushijima walked up behind him and sniffed the contents of the pot.

 

“It smells like the one from home.”

 

“It better! I got the recipe from them because I wanted you to have a little bit of home while you were here.”

 

Ushijima hummed in appreciation and grabbed a spoonful. He brought it up to his mouth and blew on it to cool it down to a palatable temperature and ate it. He let out a low growl and Tendou looked at him in shock.

 

“It’s just like home. I want to hide all of this and keep it for myself.”

 

Tendou laughed.

 

“Now now, we brought this to _share._ I can make you more later.”

 

“Fine, I’ll share if you promise to make more.”

 

Tendou turned his head to try to hide the fact that he flushed impossibly red.

 

“You got it, Wakatoshi-kun. Now go visit with the rest of the pack. You can come get some when everything is ready to eat.”

 

Ushijima nodded and walked out of the kitchen. About a minute later Suga slipped into the kitchen and gave Tendou a bright smile.

 

“Do you need help with anything Tendou-san?”

 

“Tendou is fine, Suga-san. And I think I have a handle on it so far. I didn’t know you guys were going to throw a party, sorry for bringing more food when you had prepared so much.”

 

“Please, call me Suga. And don’t worry about it. I didn’t even know this was Ushijima’s favorite food so I’m glad you brought it for him. Do you think we could talk for a minute?”

 

Tendou turned off the burner and put the lid on the pot for the hayashi before turning his attention to Suga.

 

“Sure. What’s up?”

 

“How would you feel about coming up here every weekend?”

 

Tendou felt a blush creep up his face and tried to look away to hide it. Suga laughed and continued.

 

“I think it would be good for both you and Ushijima-kun, he gets a bit lonely up here by himself. I would also feel better about Yachi coming up every weekend if she had someone to accompany her. Can you think about it?”

 

Tendou nodded and looked over at him.

 

“I can only really do that if Wakatoshi-kun is okay with it. I don’t want to intrude on him if he doesn’t want me to, you know?”

 

“Oh, I don’t think that will be much of an issue. If you want, we can talk about it with him together.”

 

“I think that might be easier than me trying to bring it up by myself…”

 

“Done. You guys are staying in a hotel tonight, right?” Tendou nodded. “Then we can see if you can hang back and meet them there for some privacy. Don’t worry too much, this’ll work out fine Tendou.”

 

Suga patted Tendou on his shoulder and walked of the kitchen. Tendou let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and willed the blush off his face before stepping out into the party. He and Suga announced that the food was ready and the alphas all raced into the kitchen. He choked on a laugh when he saw Ushijima come out with a comically sized bowl of hayashi rice that was larger than his head.

 

After everyone got their food and got comfortable, they ate while making small-talk. Goshiki was talking animatedly about how the new first years were adapting and their reserve libero from last year was just as strong as Hayato. Bokuto countered with how he and the rest of the team were becoming more dynamic with the different plays they were able to do with Oikawa’s strategies.

 

The party continued on into the evening with only minor damage being done to Ushijima’s apartment thanks to the omegas and Yaku. Semi took the rest of the pack to the hotel while Tendou stayed behind. Most of the team and their omegas left, leaving Suga, Yaku, Yachi, Ushijima, and Tendou alone in the room. Suga must have asked the other couple to stay behind since it involved Yachi also.

 

They all sat at the small table Ushijima had set up to eat his meals with their hands folded in front of them. Tendou was nervous and the others could feel it. Ushijima pulled his chair closer to Tendou and leaned into him.

 

“Is everything alright, Tendou?”

 

“Ye-yeah. Wakatoshi-kun, can I ask you something?”

 

Ushijima nodded.

 

“Of course.”

 

“How would you feel about me coming up to Tokyo every weekend? To be here with you, I mean.”

 

Ushijima didn’t respond or move at all. Tendou’s nerves were building up again and Suga cut in.

 

“I think it would be a good idea Ushijima-kun. You’ve been getting lonely here without your pack, right?”

 

Ushijima hummed and nodded.

 

“Then if Tendou comes up here every weekend that can help. He can accompany Yachi too. She shouldn’t be travelling here by herself and I don’t know about Yaku, but it would really help me feel better if she had a travel partner.”

 

Yaku nodded.

 

“Honestly, I was about to start riding the train down there to pick her up and drop her off every weekend.”

 

Ushijima thought about it for a minute.

 

“I don’t see why not.”

 

Yachi, Yaku, and Suga all smiled and Tendou released all the tension he was holding in his shoulders and melted into Ushijima.

 

“I’ll make hayashi to bring you every weekend. I promise.”

 

Ushijima smiled and rested his head on top of Tendou’s.

 

“That sounds good to me. I’ll have rice ready for you then.”

 

Tendou smiled and nodded. Ushijima walked the last of his guests to the door. Yachi and Yaku walked down to his apartment and Suga walked Tendou down to the bus stop.

 

“Welcome to the pack, Tendou.” he said with a wink before darting off without giving Tendou a chance to respond.

 

\---

 

Over the next few weeks a couple things happened. Tendou and Yachi grew extremely close. The first time she called him ‘Tendou-sempai’ his heart practically melted. Semi went through one of his heats and he and Shirabu bonded. Some time later Semi found out he was pregnant. The U21 team and their omegas came down and threw him a congratulatory party before he was even able to find out the gender. The alphas had tried to stop them but once the omegas were riled up about something there was no stopping them.

 

Tendou was due to start his heat and Goshiki was being clingier than usual.

 

“I’m sorry Tendou-san, Washijou-sensei wouldn’t change the training camp schedule because you’re not on the team anymore. Taichi, Shirabu, and I won’t be able to be here when your heat ends.”

 

His voice cracked at the end as he was trying to keep himself from crying. This would be the first time since he had known about Tendou’s heats that he wouldn’t be there to help him recover. Goshiki buried his face in Tendou’s shoulder and Tendou wrapped his arms around him.

 

“It’s okay Tsutomu. I can spend time with Eita-kun overnight before I go to see Wakatoshi-kun the next day. I should be able to handle it since I’ll even have Hitoka on the train with me so I won’t be alone at any point, okay? Don’t worry about it, you guys need to go to your training camp. You’re going to go to nationals for us this year, right?”

 

Goshiki nodded but clutched Tendou tighter. Kawanishi walked up behind him and rubbed his back between his shoulder blades. He knew it was tough for his alpha to leave the omega he looked up to so much when he was needed, so he let Goshiki be as clingy as he needed to be before they left. After a few minutes Shirabu peeled himself away from his pregnant omega he had to leave behind, and coaxed Goshiki away because they couldn’t wait any longer. They said their goodbyes then Semi and Tendou both went to sit on the couch to relax.

 

“Do you really think you can handle the trip to Tokyo? The Shinkansen won’t stop once you guys leave the station until...”

 

Tendou hummed.

 

“Well, I could go to practice the next day when I had the four of you and do all of Tanji-kun’s crazy drills. I think I should be able to handle sitting with another omega to cuddle with for a couple hours. It’s not like I’m gonna have to do anything and I’ll be with Wakatoshi-kun afterwards. I should be okay, right?”

 

“When you put it that way I suppose theoretically you should be okay. I’m just worried, I don’t want you to be in a compromising situation when none of us can help you.”

 

Tendou leaned into Semi and wrapped an arm around his belly.

 

“Don’t worry about me. That’s not good for the baby and they’re the most important member of the pack right now. Kenjirou and the others will be back Saturday night, and you’ll have Reon-kun and Hayato-kun here on the nights when I’m at the heat house. Everything is going to be okay.”

 

Semi nodded and let the topic drop. Tuesday night Tendou packed his things and went to the heat house early. His heat was due to start in the morning and since he didn’t have anyone to bring him he reserved his room a night longer just to be safe.

 

Tendou’s heat was as rough as it always was and he felt miserable. He wasn’t looking forward to going home alone for the first time in over a year, but he was looking forward to seeing Semi and crawling into bed. He wrapped his arms around himself as tight as he could and left the heat house only to be met by Reon.

 

“Reon-kun!”

 

“Hey Satori, I took my lunch early. Let’s get you home.”

 

Tendou flung himself at his friend and Reon caught him with a laugh.

 

“Hey now, I’ve only got so much time for my lunch. Let’s get you home and Eita can help you.”

 

Tendou nodded and continued to press himself into Reon’s side as they walked back to Tendou and Semi’s apartment. Tendou unlocked the door and could smell the sweet scent of cookies wafting through the air and he sighed.

 

“What did I say about worrying, Eita-kun?”

 

Semi poked his head out of the kitchen to see Tendou clinging to Reon and a relieved smile came across his face. He quickly made his way to the pair and wrapped them both in hug.

 

“Thank you for getting him, Reon.”

 

Reon chuckled.

 

“Of course. Sorry, I would’ve told you both if I was certain about my boss letting me take my lunch early, but he didn’t give me the okay until this morning.”

 

Semi let them go and Reon took the exhausted Tendou back to his room. He quickly wrapped a couple cookies in a paper towel and handed them to Reon on his way out the door.

 

“I’ve got him from here. Thanks again, Reon.”

 

“Don’t mention it. We’re a pack, I’ll be here for you guys whenever I can. I’ll see you tomorrow. Thanks for the cookies.”

 

Semi closed the door and went back into Tendou’s room. Tendou was already wrapped up in three blankets and his eyes had slipped closed. He quietly slid under the covers and brought Tendou’s head to lay on his chest. Tendou wrapped his arms around Semi and nuzzled into him and went straight to sleep. Semi carded his hand through Tendou’s hair and laid back, letting his eyes slip shut as he fell asleep too.

 

A couple hours later Semi woke up, courtesy of his bladder. He shifted uncomfortably and peeled Tendou off him. He let out a pathetic whine at the loss and Semi rubbed his head.

 

“I’ll be right back. I gotta go to the restroom. You need to eat too, I’ll bring some food back.”

 

Semi took care of his business with a sigh of relief and washed his hands. He went into the kitchen and pulled out a plate of sandwiches he prepared earlier and a large bottle of tea. He stuffed a cookie in his mouth and slid one onto the plate and made his way back to Tendou’s room. Tendou was curled up like a ball and Semi frowned.

 

“I guess not having all of us is making this harder than usual...” he muttered under his breath. He sat on the edge of the bed and placed the bottle of tea on the night stand as well as the plate of food. He moved Tendou into a sitting position and brought their legs together. He sat there slowly feeding Tendou, knowing that he didn’t eat during his heat.

 

Tendou managed to eat one sandwich, but after that he couldn’t stay upright anymore. He curled into Semi’s side and whined. Semi laid him back down and let him curl around his side again, then pulled the blankets back over them. He could take care of the dishes in the morning. He wrapped his arms around Tendou’s shoulders and placed Tendou’s head in the crook of his neck and slowly went back to sleep.

 

Semi woke up a couple more times throughout the night, managing to get Tendou to eat a cookie each time. When morning came around Tendou still felt horrible. He dragged himself out of bed to go to the bathroom and take a shower. He packed his normal overnight bag and frowned when he remembered he didn’t make the hayashi last night. There was a knock at the door and he quickly opened the door before Yachi could ring the doorbell and wake Semi.

 

“Tendou-sempai, are you ok? You look like you don’t feel good.”

 

Tendou smiled and rubbed her head.

 

“Honestly, I don’t feel very good. We’re still gonna go to Tokyo, don’t you worry. Let’s get going, we don’t want to miss the train and it’s gonna take me a little longer to get there today.”

 

Yachi nodded and reached her hand out to grab his and walk together. He smiled softly and clasped her hand in his. They made it to the station with a few minutes to spare and sat on a bench waiting for the train. Tendou leaned into Yachi and promptly fell asleep.

 

When the announcement was made of the train’s arrival Yachi struggled to get him up. She managed to get him on his feet and helped him into the car, unaware of the stern set of eyes following her every movement. They got on the same car as Yachi and Tendou, and sat on the opposite side of the car.

 

When they settled into their seats Tendou leaned back on Yachi and she looked up at him as best as she could.

 

“Are you sure you’re well enough to be travelling, Tendou-sempai? We can stay home this weekend if you want to rest.”

 

Tendou shook his head weakly.

 

“I just need to sleep a bit. Also, don’t let me forget: when we get there I need to buy groceries to make the hayashi, I couldn’t make it last night. Can I keep leaning against you? It’s helping.”

 

Yachi nodded her head and wrapped her arm as far around him as she could and pulled him close. He hummed in appreciation and drifted off to sleep.

 

\---

 

Ushijima didn’t know what to do with himself. Tendou was supposed to have his heat up until yesterday, so he should be at home with Goshiki and the others. Tendou had been with him every weekend since he had moved into the apartment, so not having him here was… different.

 

He spent the morning going out for a run then cleaning his apartment and starting laundry. He took a shower and decided that he should go buy some food to make for lunch and dinner for the next couple days. As he was leaving his apartment he ran into Yaku and his heart nearly stopped.

 

“Yaku, what are you doing here?”

 

Yaku raised an eyebrow up at him.

 

“I live here?”

 

“No, I mean why are you _here?_ Shouldn’t you be on the train with Yachi?”

 

Yaku crossed his arms over his chest and looked up at Ushijima.

 

“And why would I be doing that? She’s already almost here with Tendou. She’s with him like she is every Saturday.”

 

The blood drained from Ushijima’s face and his mouth dropped open. Yaku’s face went from mild irritation to concern.

 

“Wait, is Tendou not supposed to be coming? Is there something wrong?”

 

Ushijima didn’t give him a response, instead reaching into his pocket and fumbling with his phone until he managed to bring up Tendou in his contacts and call him. The phone rang and went to voicemail. He clicked his tongue, hung up, and immediately called back. This time a weak, groggy voice answered him after three rings.

 

_“Hey Wakatoshi-kun…”_

 

Ushijima could hear how bad Tendou felt through the receiver and felt his chest clench.

 

“Tendou, who’s with you?”

 

_“It’s Saturday Wakatoshi-kun... It’s just Hitoka like always.”_

 

“Where’s Semi?”

 

_“He’s at home waiting for Kenjirou and the others to come home from training camp.”_

 

“Training camp? Goshiki and the others weren’t with you yesterday?”

 

_“Yeah… Tsutomu couldn’t get Tanji-kun to move the camp since I don’t play there anymore… Reon-kun picked me up but I only spent the night with Eita-kun…”_

 

Ushijima wanted to scream. He knew how touch starved Tendou got with his heats, but he usually had four others spend the first night after with him to help get him back to normal. To only have one last night couldn’t have possibly been enough. Ushijima gripped his phone tighter and tried to steady his breath.

 

“Tendou… are you okay?”

 

There was a light whimper that came across the line and Ushijima had his answer.

 

“How far away are you?”

 

_“Hitoka, how much longer until we get there? ...she said the train should be arriving in about twenty minutes. Sorry, I’ve been asleep almost the whole ride. It hurts, Wakatoshi-kun… I thought I could make it there, but I guess I was wrong.”_

 

“We’ll pick you up at the station. I’ll be there by the time you get here Tendou. We’re all going to help you, okay? Please be strong until you get here.”

 

Another light whimper and some shuffling came though the phone.

 

_“Okay… I’ll see you soon Wakatoshi-kun. I’m sorry.”_

 

“Don’t apologize. This isn’t your fault. I gotta go see if I can take the van. I’ll see you soon.”

 

Ushijima hung up and stuffed the phone back in his pocket before running his fingers through his hair.

 

“Is he okay?”

 

Ushijima jumped a little at the sudden voice next to him. He had forgotten he had been speaking to Yaku before he called Tendou.

 

“Tendou has a really rough time with heats. He always ends up extremely touch starved, to the point where the pain could put him in the hospital. The past couple years he’s had four people who usually spend the first night after it with him but three of them were away at a training camp… He’s in no shape to get out of bed, let alone travel…”

 

Ushijima’s brows furrowed with worry and he ran his hand through his hair again before looking over at Yaku.

 

“Can you see if the coach will let us borrow the van? I’m gonna go see if the omegas can come help him.”

 

Yaku nodded and both men ran off in opposite directions.

 

\---

 

Tendou hung up his call and curled closer to Yachi who gripped him tighter.

 

“What’s wrong Tendou-sempai?”

 

“Sorry, Hitoka. I can’t do this right now, it hurts too much.”

 

Tendou let out a long whine and buried his face into Yachi’s neck. She shifted in her seat and leaned back to lay down with him on top of her to try to get as much contact with him as possible. It was rare for an omega to get to this degree of being touch starved, but when they were it took a lot to get them out of it and she couldn’t do it alone even though she desperately wanted to.

 

A large alpha got up and started walking over to them and she put her hand up.

 

“S-stop. Don’t come any closer to him.”

 

The alpha chuckled and continued to walk closer.

 

“Oh little omega, don’t you see he needs help? I’m just here to help an omega in pain. Can’t you let me do that?”

 

Yachi tensed up in fear, but she had to do what she could for Tendou.

 

“I-I said s-stop. Don’t come-“

 

She was cut off by an extremely large beta boy with white hair and no eyebrows standing between her and the alpha. He was joined by two equally tall betas on either side of him. One had brown hair, the other with mostly blond hair and three black spikes in the front. All three had their backs to her. The one with the brown hair turned to look back at her with a bright smile.

 

“Well if it isn’t the baby bird! Hii~ Kotori-chan!”

 

“Futakuchi-sempai! Aone-sempai and Koganegawa-kun too! Why are you here?”

 

Futakuchi shrugged his shoulders.

 

“We just followed Aone. It looked like you needed help anyway, so we’re here. Right Aone?”

 

Aone nodded and Futakuchi turned back to the alpha, the smile disappearing from his face.

 

“Let’s break him if he takes even one step closer.”

 

All three betas growled and the alpha backed down. They shifted back so that their legs were touching the parts of Tendou that were hanging over the seat and he let out another whine. Yachi nuzzled into his hair and started crying because there wasn’t much more she could do.

 

“Only fifteen more minutes Tendou-sempai. You can do it, we’re almost there.”

 

\---

 

Ushijima got all the omegas together and told them what was going on. They all agreed to come with him to pick up Tendou. Suga grabbed Ushijima’s key and gave it to Iwaizumi.

 

“You guys need to make a massive nest in Ushijima-kun’s apartment. Now. We’re gonna go pick up Tendou and he needs it. I’m counting on you.”

 

He kissed Iwaizumi on the cheek and was the last one to climb into the van before they took off. The alphas all looked at each other, dumbstruck. Then it hit them all at once that none of them knew how to make a nest. In a stroke of genius Kuroo decided to call Kenma. They ran to Ushijima’s room and unlocked the door as he made the call.

 

_“Why are you bothering me Kuroo?”_

 

“KITTEN! I NEED HELP!”

 

_“Kuroo. If you want me to help, you better stop screaming.”_

 

“Sorry kitten. We have an omega coming who’s extremely touch starved and we need to make a large nest. The problem is, we’re all alphas and we don’t know what we’re doing.”

 

Kenma sighed over the line.

 

_“Put me on speaker phone.”_

 

Kuroo put his phone on speaker and held it face up in the middle of everyone.

 

“Okay kitten, we can all hear you.”

 

_“Get every pillow, blanket and towel you have. Couch cushions too. Lay the pillows and cushions across the floor and try to make it as flat and even as possible. Lay the towels on top of the cushions then a couple blankets to make the top of it soft. Keep a couple blankets to the side to put on top of everyone after you’re all in it, preferably the fluffiest ones you have. Understood?”_

 

“YUP! THANKS KITTEN!”

 

Kenma just sighed and hung up the phone muttering about the screaming. The alphas all took off to their rooms, running back and forth grabbing everything Kenma said to grab. Oikawa was the first one done. Since he didn’t live with an omega he had less stuff to use for nests. He tried to clear as much space as he could on the floor. He put Ushijima’s table upside down on his bed and the chairs on top.

 

By the time he was done the other alphas had brought everything they could. They quickly assembled the nest as they were instructed, hoping it would be done in time to help.

 

\---

 

Yaku had gotten permission to use the team van given the special circumstances. He waited with the van running for Ushijima and the omegas in front of the apartment complex and after everyone had piled in he quickly took off for the station. He dropped them off and waited instead of going off to park so they could get Tendou home as soon as possible.

 

The train was due to arrive within a minute and Ushijima was pacing back and forth. The omegas watched him with worried looks on their faces. He had told them that it was bad, but if he was this worked up it was probably worse than they were imagining.

 

Suga was hugging Daichi, muttering about how it was his fault because he asked Tendou to bring Yachi every weekend. He had asked Ushijima earlier if that was why this was happening and Ushijima shot the idea down right away, but that didn’t stop Suga from feeling guilty.

 

The train pulled in and the doors opened. Ushijima could smell Tendou a few cars down and took off running faster than the others could keep up. He tore past the passengers getting off the train and entered the car.

 

“SATORI!”

 

Tendou let out a loud whine from behind the betas and they stepped aside. Ushijima’s heart clenched when he saw him. Tendou had curled himself into an impossibly tight ball and was half-laying on Yachi who looked up at him with teary eyes. He immediately ran up to the pair and lifted Tendou into his arms.

 

“Hey, you’re okay now.... I’ve got you… you’re okay. I’m here, you’re okay…”

 

He shifted to the side and set Tendou on the seat long enough to unclench his limbs and get him to wrap his arms around his neck. Ushijima lifted him again in a princess carry and let Tendou nuzzle into his neck. He nodded at the betas and motioned for Yachi to follow him. She grabbed their bags and followed close behind him, waving goodbye to the others as she got out of the car.

 

Hanamaki was using his height above everyone to scan the crowd and look for Ushijima. Once he saw the man with a familiar red-head being carried in his arms his heart sank.

 

“Oh shit...”

 

The other omegas followed his line of sight and found Ushijima right away. Ushijima was clutching Tendou close to his chest and rubbing his face into Tendou’s neck as he walked. The omegas quickly ran over to them and found that Yachi had been guiding them through the crowd so that he could focus on Tendou. They each reached a hand out to touch him and he whimpered and curled further into Ushijima who responded by holding him closer.

 

The omegas all whined. Being this touch starved was almost unheard of. It made the omega’s nerves extremely sensitive and caused touch to be painful, making it difficult to recover. Yachi started to cry again and Suga pulled her in for a hug. Akaashi and Daichi each grabbed a bag from her and Hanamaki walked ahead of the group to clear the crowd so they could get out of the station.

 

Yaku stayed in front of the station, waiting for everyone to come back. He stood outside of the van, ready to open the door when needed since he knew Tendou was going to be in rough shape. He wasn’t expecting it to be as bad as it was.

 

Hanamaki was running ahead of the group and waving Yaku down. Yaku quickly threw the doors open and went around to the driver’s side to start up the van. Hanamaki climbed in ahead of Ushijima and used his hands to help balance him while he tried to climb in without letting Tendou go. Akaashi, Suga, and Daichi all climbed into the back seat and reached over to gently rub Tendou where they could reach. Hanamaki wrapped his arm around Tendou’s side and rubbed his face into his shoulder.

 

Yachi climbed into the front seat after closing the door behind everyone, eyes still lined with tears and Yaku took off. He reached over and grabbed her hand and gave it a light squeeze. Her breath hitched and she squeezed his hand back.

 

“We have to help him, Mori-kun.”

 

Yaku nodded.

 

“The others are already making a nest for him. He’s gonna be okay, Hitoka. All of us are here for him, just like you were there for him on his way here.”

 

Yachi nodded and gripped his hand tighter, determination set in her eyes. Yaku pulled up in front of the apartments to let everyone out and went to go park the van. Ushijima carried Tendou to his apartment where the other alphas had just finished setting up the nest. They all turned around to see the normally lively and happy Tendou whimpering into Ushijima’s chest.

 

Ushijima carefully crawled into the middle of the nest, with Yachi’s help. The other omegas thanked their alphas for their help with quick kisses and followed Ushijima and Yachi into the nest. Ushijima laid back and lay Tendou so that his face would rest near his scent glands. Yachi crawled on top of Ushijima to curl into Tendou’s chest and the omegas all lay so that they would all be touching him either near his head or along his torso.

 

The whole situation looked so intimate that the alphas almost felt like they were intruding on something they shouldn’t be. Yaku made his way into the apartment and glared at the other alphas. He raised his foot and kicked Kuroo in the ass.

 

“HE NEEDS ALL OF US! GET YOUR ASSES IN THE NEST!”

 

The other alphas quickly scrambled to lean against Tendou’s legs in some fashion. Yaku took the spare blankets and draped them over everyone before crawling in behind Yachi and carding his hands through Tendou’s hair. After a short while Tendou’s whimpers tapered off and he became less tense. He managed to nuzzle Ushijima’s neck before opening his eyes and looking up at the alpha.

 

“I’m sorry Wakatoshi-kun. I’m making you do all this for me.”

 

Ushijima gripped him tighter and nuzzled him back.

 

“Don’t worry about it Tendou. I’m sorry for not making sure this didn’t happen.”

 

“I didn’t even bring you hayashi, I still need to go shop for stuff to make some.”

 

Ushijima shook his head.

 

“You’ll be doing no such thing. You’re gonna rest the entire weekend, understood?”

 

Tendou simply nodded and laid his head back down and fell back asleep. After a couple hours of everyone cuddling into Tendou he started to slowly purr in his sleep. Everyone else relaxed and the other omegas joined in. Most of the alphas got up, giving their omegas a kiss and letting them get more comfortable. Yaku went into the kitchen to start some tea while the others left to get food for everyone to eat.

 

When Yaku came out with cups for everyone he looked down to see everyone asleep with smiles on their faces, even Ushijima had a small quirk to his lip. He turned around and placed the tea in the fridge for later. He pulled out his phone and took a picture of Yachi and Tendou clinging to each other to give to her later. He smirked down at the picture then crawled back into the nest behind Yachi, wrapped his arm around her waist and fell back asleep.

 

When the alphas came back with the food the omegas took turns getting up to eat. Suga went last but instead of crawling back into the nest he walked over to squat near Ushijima’s head. He leaned down to talk to him in a hushed whisper.

 

“Did you want to get up to eat?”

 

Ushijima shook his head and looked down at Tendou.

 

“I’m not going to be getting up anytime soon.”

 

Suga smiled and ran his hand through the sleeping boy’s hair. Tendou purred louder at the contact and Suga had to restrain himself from pulling him into a hug. He turned his attention back to Ushijima.

 

“I can make you a protein shake instead, you can stay here to drink that. You really should eat something.”

 

Ushijima nodded and turned his head back up to Suga.

 

“Could you make it a fruit smoothie instead? Tendou likes sweet things and I want to get him to eat. He never could eat much after his heats so I’ll just have what he doesn’t finish.”

 

Suga nodded and swiftly left the apartment to go make the smoothie. He came back a short while later with a ridiculous looking souvenir cup from some theme park, but it had a long straw like they needed. Ushijima shifted to try to sit him and Tendou more upright before gently rubbing Tendou’s shoulder.

 

“Tendou, Tendou. You need to get up to eat. Suga made you a smoothie, come on, have some.”

 

Tendou groaned slightly and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He continued to lean heavily on Ushijima’s chest before looking up at Suga.

 

“Hey sleepyhead. Do you think you can drink some?”

 

Suga held up the cup and Tendou nodded. He moved to get up and Ushijima pulled him back down before shaking his head. Tendou pouted then opened his mouth for Suga to bring the straw up to him. Tendou managed to drink about one third of the smoothie before letting the straw drop from his mouth and cuddling back into Ushijima’s chest with a contented sigh. Ushijima rubbed his back gently.

 

“Good job, Tendou. You can go back to sleep now.”

 

Tendou nodded and let himself drift back off to sleep. Ushijima smiled down at him before using his free hand to grab the smoothie from Suga.

 

“Thanks Suga, for everything. I can’t thank you all enough for this.“

 

Suga brushed it off with a shake of his head.

 

“Tendou is one of us, of course we’ll be there for him.”

 

Ushijima nodded before finishing off the smoothie. He knew that omegas tended to grow close when they spent a lot of time together. He was infinitely grateful to them because he didn’t think he could handle this by himself. He laid back down slowly, trying to not disturb Tendou and went back to sleep.

 

\---

 

Tendou slowly opened his eyes and groaned a little as he tried to sit up, but there was a lot of weight on his body and he couldn’t move. As his eyes came into focus he looked down to see Yachi buried into his chest and everyone having at least part of their body on top of him. Ushijima was laying below him but still had an arm wrapped around his waist and was holding him close.

 

The omegas felt Tendou shift beneath them and started to wake up. Suga rubbed his eyes and gave him a sleepy smile.

 

“How are you feeling?”

 

“A lot better, thank you…” he cast his eyes to the side. “Sorry I had to make you guys do that, I’m sure you had better things to do than take care of me.”

 

Hanamaki reached up and flicked Tendou on the forehead.

 

“There’s nothing better or more important than taking care of our own, so don’t you dare say that again.”

 

“Tendou-sempai…”

 

Tendou looked down to see Yachi looking up at him, eyes lined with tears. He smiled at her and brought his arms around to hold her close.

 

“Hey now, Hitoka, I’m okay. I’m sorry for worrying you. Did you call a taxi to bring me here?”

 

The omegas all snapped up and looked at him. Hanamaki opened and closed his mouth a couple times before hesitantly asking, “You… don’t remember?”

 

“I’m not really myself after my heats, I usually just wake up in my bed with the others the next day and I’ve never been able to remember what leads up to that.”

 

All of them sighed and Suga rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration.

 

“No wonder Ushijima was so worried.”

 

Tendou stiffened at his words.

 

“What do you mean? What did Wakatoshi-kun do?”

 

The weight below him shifted and he turned his head back to look at Ushijima. Ushijima rubbed his eyes with one hand and used the other to push himself, Yachi, and Tendou into a sitting position. The other alphas all started to wake up and sighed in relief when they saw that Tendou was back to normal.

 

“I asked everyone to come help. You told me only Semi was with you the night after your heat and I knew it wasn’t going to be enough. Yaku borrowed the team van and we came to get you at the station. I’m just glad we got there before something happened to you.”

 

Yachi gripped Tendou’s shirt a little tighter over his chest.

 

“Well, not exactly…”

 

Ushijima let out a low threatening growl and Yachi let out a startled squeak.

 

“What do you mean by ‘not exactly’?”

 

Tendou put his hand on Ushijima’s chest and made him back down. He turned his attention back to Yachi and ran a hand through her hair.

 

“What happened, Hitoka?”

 

“Well, um, after Ushijima-san called you, you started to whine a lot. I tried to lay you out over me so that I could touch as much of you as I could but it wasn’t helping. Some strange alpha tried to approach us but I told him to stay away. He ignored me and-“

 

Suddenly all the alphas started growling and Yachi stopped talking and hid her face in Tendou’s chest. She started quivering and crying while the omegas tried to calm them all down so she could finish. When they backed down she pulled back to finish telling everyone what happened.

 

“He ignored me telling him to stay away, but there were some friends from another school on the train too. They stood between us and the alpha and he backed away and left us alone.”

 

Ushijima hummed in understanding.

 

“I was wondering why the Datekou blockers were so close to you both. That makes more sense.”

 

Daichi chuckled.

 

“I guess the iron wall is good at blocking more than just volleyballs.”

 

Suga rolled his eyes and smacked Daichi on the shoulder. Everyone started to get up and stretch before going to their own apartments to get ready for the day.

 

Tendou reached for his overnight bag and pulled out his phone. He unlocked it and his face paled when he looked at his notifications. Fifty-seven text messages and thirteen missed calls. All from Semi. Tendou swallowed hard before pressing the call button and holding the phone up to his ear.

 

_“TENDOU SATORI I COULD FUCKING KILL YOU RIGHT NOW! PLEASE TELL ME YOU’RE OKAY!”_

 

“I’m okay Eita-kun. Wakatoshi-kun came and got me from the station and everyone here nested with me until I felt better.”

 

_“I know there’s a LOT you aren't telling me. I’ll get it from Hitoka when I see her next. You, however, are still in trouble.”_

 

Tendou shifted a little where he was sitting before mumbling something incoherently over the line.

 

_“What?”_

 

“I said I’m sorry for making you worry. What can I do to make it up to you?”

 

_“First off, never do that shit again. I cannot believe you left without waking me up to say goodbye asshole. Second, you are taking those nice people four cheesecakes and about two hundred cookies.”_

 

“Eita-kun… exactly how many cookies did you bake?”

 

_“ENOUGH FOR YOU TO TAKE TWO HUNDRED BACK WITH YOU TO TOKYO NEXT WEEKEND! We’re out of flour, sugar, vanilla, eggs, even peanut butter because I resorted to making peanut butter cookies when I ran out of flour. I cannot fucking believe you actually fucking LEFT without saying goodbye.”_

 

Tendou whined long and high pitched, immediately grabbing Ushijima’s attention. The alpha was quickly at his side and rubbing his back with a firm hand.

 

“I’m sorry, Eita-kun... I’ve already talked to the people here. I’m not travelling after heats anymore.”

 

Semi sighed over the line.

 

_“I’m just glad you’re okay. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you.”_

 

“Aww, Eita-kun loves me.”

 

_“Don’t push your luck.”_

 

The call disconnected and Tendou pouted.  He shifted to stand up and Ushijima put a firm hand on his shoulder to keep him sitting down.

 

“No. You’re resting until you leave tonight.”

 

“I’m not made of glass, Wakatoshi-kun. Besides it’s not like you’re going to carry me to the bathroom. I promise to take it easy, but at least let me-“

 

Ushijima wrapped his arms under Tendou’s legs and around his back, lifted him into the air, and started to walk over to the bathroom. Tendou flushed a bright red when he realized what he was doing.

 

“WAKATOSHI-KUN YOU ARE NOT TAKING ME INTO THE BATHROOM! PUT ME DOWN!”

 

Ushijima gave him a puzzled look but brought his legs down so that he could stand. Tendou’s legs were a little wobbly at first but he quickly found his bearings. He went into the bathroom and shut the door behind him to take care of his business.

 

Ushijima went over to the nest and started folding all the blankets and towels and stacking the various pillows and cushions so that everyone could come back to get the ones they brought. He took the table and chairs off his bed and set them back up so that he and Tendou could eat. He could hear the bath being filled and knew he had a while before Tendou would be ready.

 

Ushijima opened his fridge and found that he had enough eggs to make omurice for two people. He took his time making it because although he was very skilled at volleyball, the kitchen was not his forte. As he was plating their food Tendou came out of the bathroom with a towel still wrapped around his neck. He sniffed the air as he came around the corner to find the room mostly cleared of the nest and breakfast waiting for him on the table.

 

He stood there gaping at the sight, clearly not expecting to be pampered to this degree. Ushijima walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

 

“Are you okay, Tendou?”

 

“Yeah… I’m fine. Did you make us breakfast Wakatoshi-kun?”

 

Ushijima nodded, then turned to go to the kitchen to get tea for them both. Tendou went to sit in front of one of the plates and waited for Ushijima to join him. After they were both seated they both gave a quick ‘itadakimasu’ and took a bite. Tendou hummed in appreciation.

 

“You’re a good cook, Wakatoshi-kun! This tastes really good!”

 

Ushijima shrugged as he continued to eat.

 

“The hayashi you make is better. I’m just glad I could make you something that didn’t taste bad.”

 

Tendou blushed and continued eating. They kept up with some small talk until they finished, Ushijima cleared the table and instructed Tendou to go lay in the bed.

 

“I’m _fine_ , Wakatoshi-kun.”

 

“Tendou, you didn’t see yourself yesterday. I’ve never seen you like that, it scared all of us, and I never want to see you like that again. Please, just lay down.”

 

Tendou cast his eyes to the ground and did as he was told. He pulled out his phone and texted Semi, who was still thoroughly scolding him, in between playing games. After a while he switched to his online copy of Jump! and read the most recent chapter of Boku No Hero Academia and a few other titles.

 

Daichi and Akaashi attempted to make hayashi and everyone came over to share the meal together. Yachi had convinced Suga to go out with her to get chocolate ice cream to bring back to Tendou, which he practically inhaled. After they cleaned up it was time for Tendou and Yachi to get back to the station to go home for the weekend.

 

Ushijima continued to fuss over Tendou and wouldn’t let him carry his bag no matter how much he protested. As they were on the bus back to the station Tendou looked over at the omegas.

 

“Right, before I forget. I’m going to be bringing four cheesecakes and about two hundred cookies next weekend.”

 

Hanamaki looked over at him.

 

“And why would you take the time to make all of that?”

 

“I’m not… This whole thing stressed out Eita-kun a bit too much. He made them all yesterday…”

 

Ushijima hummed to the side.

 

“I remember him making enough to practically open a bakery when Shirabu and Goshiki both had the flu. We ended up giving most of the cookies to kindergartens in the area.”

 

Everyone looked at them both with mild horror. To them, Semi being a stress baker was just a fact of life. To everyone else, the sheer amount of baked goods that he could produce in such a short amount of time was terrifying.

 

The bus got to the station and everyone got off to say their goodbyes. Ushijima reluctantly gave Tendou his bag before frowning a bit.

 

“Are you sure you don’t want us to go with you?”

 

Tendou turned around and clapped both hands over Ushijima’s cheeks, startling him a bit.

 

“Wakatoshi-kun. You took very good care of me. I’m fine. I promise you, I’m fine. I will never do this again, and you need to stay here. I have Hitoka with me and we will check in a couple times on the way home, okay?”

 

Ushijima nodded and Tendou hoisted his bag onto his shoulder. He turned to look at everyone else with a smile.

 

“Thank you all for taking care of me, I don’t know how to repay you.”

 

Hanamaki laughed.

 

“I think we all just agree with Ushijima and want you to never do it again.”

 

Everyone nodded and Tendou pouted.

 

“I already said I wouldn’t.”

 

“AONE-SEMPAIIIII!”

 

Everyone turned to where Yachi was yelling and waving to. Aone, Futakuchi, and Koganegawa were also getting ready to board the train. They walked over to the group and Futakuchi smiled down at her.

 

“Hey Kotori-chan!”

 

Yachi pulled Yaku to meet them all.

 

“These are my friends that protected us from that alpha! Thi-”

 

Suddenly all the omegas rushed forward and wrapped the startled betas in a hug before Yachi could even introduce them. Yaku cleared his throat.

 

“You guys are scaring them.”

 

They all pulled back and Akaashi looked up at their towering figures.

 

“We can’t thank you enough for protecting our friends. The next time you’re in Tokyo let us know. We’ll treat you to food.”

 

Futakuchi and Koganegawa’s faces lit up.

 

“SERIOUSLY?”

 

Aone shook his head.

 

“Yachi is our friend too. No need to thank us.”

 

Yaku walked up to him and glared.

 

“You protected our pack. We are going to thank you. Just let us know when you’re back in Tokyo.”

 

Aone nodded and Tendou put a hand on his shoulder.

 

“We’ll sit with these guys too. I’m going to have to drag them to see Eita-kun so they can get loaded up with sweets anyway. I promise Wakatoshi-kun, I’ll be fine. We have to get on the train now, and we will see you next week.”

 

They all waved to each other and the five boarded the train. Koganegawa looked over at Tendou curiously.

 

“So, umm, who is Eita-kun?”

 

“My best friend who’s also going to want to thank you. He baked several hundred cookies over the weekend and he’s going to want to give all of you some. My name is Tendou, by the way. And I would also like to thank you for protecting me and Hitoka. Just let me know if there’s anything you want me to do.”

 

Futakuchi scoffed.

 

“We don’t need any more offers of food. What we need are solid practice matches.”

 

“Done.”

 

Futakuchi choked on air and looked back over at him.

 

“What?”

 

“The pack leader for the Shiratorizawa boys team is my kouhai. I used to play there and if playing in practice matches is what you guys want, after how you helped us, they would most definitely do that. Or is Shiratorizawa not ‘solid’ enough for you?”

 

All three betas straightened up in their seats with excitement.

 

“THANK YOU VERY MUCH!”

 

Tendou laughed and Yachi giggled. They spent the rest of the trip having small talk and getting to know each other better. They exchanged numbers before getting off the train. As they stepped off there was a sudden shout.

 

“TENDOU-SAAAANNNNNN!!!”

 

Goshiki flew out of nowhere and jumped on Tendou, nearly knocking him over if it hadn’t been for Aone catching them both. Goshiki immediately started sobbing into Tendou’s shoulder.

 

“I’m so sorry Tendou-san! This was all my fault, I shou-“

 

Tendou firmly gripped Goshiki by both shoulders and pulled him away to scold him.

 

“This is NOT your fault Tsutomu, if I hear you try to blame yourself I will smack you. This happened because I was stubborn and thought I could handle it but I couldn’t. This is all on me, understood?”

 

Goshiki pouted and before he could retort the rest of the Shiratorizawa pack came up behind him. Semi led the way so he could finally scold Tendou in person.

 

“He’s right Tsutomu, this is ENTIRELY his fault and he is never doing this shit again. Right, Satori?”

 

Tendou pointedly looked away from Semi.

 

“Yes, Eita-kun.”

 

Tendou looked back over at Goshiki and loosened his grip on his shoulders to bring him into a hug instead.

 

“It’s good to see you too, Tsutomu. Your hair is as cool as ever.”

 

Goshiki wrapped his arms around Tendou and hugged him as tight as he could. He immediately started scenting him and all Tendou could do was sigh and rub his back.

 

Semi walked up to the pair and flicked Tendou on the forehead. Tendou flinched and pouted at him. Semi looked over at the group of betas standing next to Yachi with a curious look on his face. He recognized them but he couldn’t remember from where.

 

“Satori, who are these people?

 

“Oh, right.”

 

Tendou pulled Goshiki off him just enough to look at him in the face.

 

“I need to introduce them all to you. These are the boys from Datekou’s ‘Iron Wall’, Takanobu, Kenji, and Kanji. They helped keep me safe until I was with Wakatoshi-kun.”

 

The pack nodded and thanked them all.

 

“Tsutomu, when I asked them what they wanted as a thank you they said they wanted practice matches with a strong school. They’re the strongest set of blockers in all Miyagi and it would be good for you too. Do you think you guys can set some up?”

 

Goshiki stood up straight and looked Aone in the eyes with a beaming smile.

 

“YES!”

 

Tendou chuckled and rubbed Goshiki’s head before turning his head towards a slightly antsy Semi.

 

“Don’t worry, Eita-kun. They know they’re coming to get cookies.”

 

Semi sighed and a small smile came across his face. He took the last couple steps between him and Tendou and wrapped the other in a hug.

 

“I’m so glad you’re okay. I was scared something could’ve happened to you and I wouldn’t have known.”

 

“I know, I’m sorry. These guys protected me and Wakatoshi-kun took good care of me too. He got his whole pack to help get me back to normal.”

 

Yachi reached up and grabbed him by the ear to pull him down with a surprised squawk.

 

“You’re part of the pack too, you know.”

 

Semi chuckled and placed a hand on her shoulder.

 

“Sorry about him. He has a hard time realizing when he’s been accepted into a pack because of his past. We were the first one he ever had.”

 

“Oh… Well, whether you know it or not Tendou-sempai, you’re part of our pack. That doesn’t make you any less part of this pack either, just think of it as getting another family.”

 

Tendou wrapped her up in a tight hug and he started to cry. Semi rubbed his back between his shoulder blades with a sigh.

 

“Looks like your emotions are still a bit out of whack. Let’s get you home and in your nest, okay?”

 

Tendou nodded but still clung to Yachi. Semi motioned for the Datekou boys to follow and they all went back to their apartment. The entire kitchen was filled with various baked goods. Mostly cookies, but there were also some cakes, a few cheesecakes, cupcakes, pies, cinnamon rolls, and a large set of fruit tarts. The four not from the Shiratorizawa pack stared in awe as the pack took Tendou back to his room to nest.

 

Semi came back out and motioned towards the kitchen.

 

“Take whatever you want. There’s no way we can eat all of this.”

 

“Tendou-sempai wasn’t kidding when he said he would bring four cheesecakes and two-hundred cookies next week…”

 

“No, he wasn’t. I wanted to thank your pack and I needed help getting all of this consumed.”

 

Yachi took a picture to send to the rest of the pack and grabbed a couple cupcakes.

 

“It’s only me and my mom at home, but if you have some left after packing things up for sempai for next week I can come back to take some to my team. I’m sure they would be more than happy to help finish these off.”

 

Semi nodded with a smile and looked over at the Datekou boys.

 

“No need to be shy. Take as much as you want.”

 

Futakuchi grabbed a cake and a small bag of cookies, Koganegawa grabbed some of the fruit tarts, and Aone grabbed some cinnamon rolls. Semi gave each of the boys a hug before letting them leave.

 

“I can’t thank you enough for protecting him until he got to Wakatoshi. He may be a little stubborn and stupid, but he’s still head omega. He probably hasn’t realized it yet, but our pack would be lost without him.”

 

The boys nodded and left. Yachi gave Semi a quick hug before heading out the door as well. Semi locked it and went back into Tendou’s room to find the rest of the pack already asleep, with an open spot between Tendou and Shirabu for him to lay down. He crawled into place and fell into the most restful sleep he’d had in almost a week.

 

\---

 

A few months after Ushijima joined the national team they had their first long series of away games internationally. They were set to be gone from late October until the beginning of the new year, ending with the World Cup. Preparations were made for both Akaashi and Yachi to go on independent study to be with their alphas, since long stints of separation had been shown to be detrimental to the health of both alphas and omegas.

 

Tendou had gone up with Yachi and the rest of the Shiratorizawa pack the weekend before the departure to wish the team luck. They left Yachi there since she was travelling with the team and came home after some very long, clingy goodbyes amongst the omegas. Suga made Semi promise to not go baby shopping without him while he was gone.

 

At six months pregnant Semi was showing a small belly. He continued going to school for the first semester, but stopped when it ended in September. For now he was still working part time jobs to pay for his portion of the rent, but within a couple months that was going to have to stop too. He was taking his long awaited daily bath to relieve the swelling in his ankles when he heard a knock at the bathroom door.

 

“Come in.”

 

“Hey, Eita-kun.”

 

Semi hummed in acknowledgement and relaxed further into the bath.

 

“I’m gonna go say bye to Wakatoshi-kun, okay?”

 

Semi nodded as he slipped his eyes closed and got comfortable. Tendou got extremely excited because he got past his biggest hurdle but kept his voice steady.

 

“I’ll see you later, Eita-kun.”

 

“Later Satori.”

 

Tendou left the bathroom quietly then sprinted to his room. He grabbed his large Maccachin plushie and rushed out the door, calling out to Shirabu that he would be back later. Shirabu looked at the now closed door curiously, then shrugged his shoulders and went back to watching tv.

 

About a half an hour later Semi came out of the bathroom, hair dried and wrapped up in a warm fuzzy robe. Shirabu lifted the blanket that was on his legs and Semi curled into his alpha and started to relax. He started to purr and a smile tugged on Shirabu’s lips as he let his mate get more comfortable.

 

They were watching an episode of Chopped when it happened.

 

“I saw Tendou-san leave earlier with Maccachin, yelling out that he’d be back later. Do you know where he was going?”

 

“Satori said he was gonna go say bye to Wakatoshi.”

 

“…”

 

“…”

 

“I’m surprised you let him leave, Tokyo isn’t exactly a short trip and there’s probably not gonna be any more trains running back here by the time he gets there.”

 

Semi ran a shaking hand over his face and grabbed his phone from his robe pocket. He pulled up Tendou in his contacts and called him.

 

_“Hi Eita-kuuuun~”_

 

“ _Hi Eita-kuuuun~_ my ass. You waited for me to be in the bath on purpose didn’t you?”

 

_“You wouldn’t have let me leave otherwise.”_

 

“YOU’RE DAMN RIGHT I WOULDN’T! HOW ARE YOU GETTING HOME? THE TRAINS STOP RUNNING AFTER A CERTAIN TIME!”

 

_“I’ll just find some cheap hotel, I’ll be fine.”_

 

Semi sighed into the phone.

 

“Look, if something happens let us know. I’m sure Hayato will let us use his car. It will just take a while to get there.”

 

_“Aww it’s okay Eita-kun. Just enjoy a night alone with Kenjjirou. You guys won’t be getting weekends alone anymore.”_

 

“Fine… Say bye to Wakatoshi for us too. Let me know when you get there.”

 

_“Roger!”_

 

The call disconnected and Semi relaxed into Shirabu’s side. Tendou was already on the train so there was no point in trying to stop him anymore. He decided to take Tendou up on his recommendation and have a nice night alone with his alpha since it would be the last one for a while.

 

Tendou put the phone back in his pocket and hugged his large Maccachin plushie. Last night he had decided he needed to see Ushijima one last time before he left. It was going to be almost three months before he was going to see the alpha on anything other than a screen. He hadn’t told anyone that he was coming but knew their flight was a red-eye and he should have a couple hours before they went to the airport.

 

Ushijima was packing up the final couple things he needed for his trip in his overnight bag when he heard a light knock on his door. He wasn’t expecting anyone and set his bag down on his bed. He opened the door to find someone standing behind a rather large plushie that was held in front of their face. The stuffed animal slowly went down and he could see a familiar shock of red hair behind it.

 

“Tendou..?”

 

“Mmhmm…”

 

“Wha-what are you doing here? Come inside.”

 

Ushijima led Tendou through the labyrinth of suitcases and bags that were cluttering his apartment as they went to sit on the bed. Tendou was stiff and nervous, and it made Ushijima anxious. He put a hand on Tendou’s shoulder and bombarded him with questions of concern.

 

“Is everything okay? You didn’t tell me you were coming… Is something wrong? Do you-”

 

“No Wakatoshi-kun. Everything’s fine, I just needed to give you something…”

 

Ushijima sighed and relaxed his shoulders. He rubbed Tendou’s back to help him relax, and when he finally did he held up the plushie.

 

“I wanted you to take Maccachin with you. He’s soft and will make a good pillow on your flights. And he smells like home. Well, at least he does to me…”

 

Ushijima took the plushie and placed it in his lap with a smile.

 

“Thank you, Tendou. I remember feeling weird when I first got here because everything smelled off. This will help a lot.”

 

Tendou smiled up at him and placed a hand on his cheek.

 

“Anything for you, Wakatoshi-kun. I should go say bye to everyone else too, then go find a hotel.”

 

“Hotel? Why?”

 

“There aren’t any more trains running, so it’s not like I can go home. And I’m not gonna sleep in a park, so a hotel it is.”

 

Ushijima frowned at him.

 

“No.”

 

“What do you mean ‘no’?”

 

“I don’t want you going out this late looking for a hotel. Stay here.”

 

“Wakatoshi-kun, I don’t know if you forgot, but you’re leaving tonight.”

 

“You can just hold onto my key until I get back. You’re going to come meet us when we get back, right?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“Then stay here. It would make me feel better, please. I want to make sure you’re safe.”

 

Tendou blushed and nodded. They both went out to let him say bye to everyone else again. The omegas each pulling him aside and asking if he was coming, to which he regretfully shook his head. They gave him hugs and assured him that it would happen eventually. He saw them all off at the bus and Ushijima gave him the key to his apartment.

 

“I’m sorry I can’t stay.”

 

Tendou shook his head.

 

“I’m ready for you to be the best ace in the world. The rest of the pack will be watching you and cheering you on. We’re all very proud of you…” Tendou reached up and ruffled Ushijima’s hair. He gave him the brightest smile he could muster. “We’re counting on you, miracle boy.”

 

Tendou waved to everyone on the bus and turned to walk back to the apartment. After a few steps he heard someone running behind him and before he could react Ushijima wrapped him in a tight hug.

 

“Stay safe while I’m gone.”

 

Tendou nodded and placed his hands on the arms in front of him.

 

“I will, I promise.”

 

Ushijima continued to hold onto him and after a few more seconds Tendou chuckled a bit before turning his head to look up at Ushijima.

 

“Wakatoshi-kun, you need to let me go.”

 

Ushijima slumped his shoulders and nodded. He released Tendou and he turned to face him.

 

“Travel safe. Let me know when you land, okay? Good luck, I know you guys will win.”

 

Ushijima gave him a small smile and nodded. He turned around and jogged to the bus, getting on without turning back. Tendou waved as the bus left, then turned and went back to Ushijima’s apartment. He allowed himself some indulgence and took a shower before grabbing one of Ushijima’s larger shirts to wear to bed. He wrapped himself up in the comforter and drifted off to sleep.

 

\---

 

About two weeks into their series of away games the team was having a short day of practice. Ushijima was off his game and clearly distracted. He tried to focus and would get some good reps in before faltering again and the team couldn’t tell why he was so off.

 

After practice they met the omegas for dinner. Ushijima had hardly eaten anything and was pushing food around on his plate. Akaashi looked over at him with concern before calling out to him.

 

“Ushijima-san? Ushijima-san?” He wasn’t getting a response so he switched tactics. “Wakatoshi-san?”

 

Ushijima seemed to snap out of his thoughts.

 

“Oh, um, sorry.”

 

“It’s fine. Are you okay?”

 

“I’m fine.”

 

“Okay, you might be ‘fine’, but you’re clearly worried about something. What’s wrong?”

 

Ushijima frowned and looked down at his plate.

 

“Tendou’s heat should have ended today.”

 

Everyone hummed in understanding. Suga rubbed his back to reassure him.

 

“Tendou’s going to be fine. Your other pack is with him, remember?”

 

“I thought that last time too, and you all saw how that ended.”

 

The table fell silent, remembering how touch-starved and in pain Tendou was wasn’t a pleasant memory for anyone. Suga’s eyebrows furrowed in frustration when he looked over at Ushijima. As he opened his mouth Iwaizumi grabbed his shoulder and shook his head. Before the mood at the table could get any heavier, Ushijima’s phone pinged with a notification.

 

He saw the message was from Semi and quickly scrambled to unlock his phone. If Semi was texting him right after Tendou’s heat something was wrong. He feared for the worst as he opened the message. His shoulders relaxed almost immediately and a smile crept up on his face.

 

There was a picture, Tendou sound asleep and curled into Semi’s side with Goshiki and Kawanishi behind him. He could barely see Shirabu curled around Semi from behind and reaching a hand over to rest on Tendou’s arm. The message below read _“I know you’re worrying so here’s proof that he’s okay. We’re never letting that happen again.”_

 

Ushijima chuckled at the message and Suga reached over and stole his phone, earning a light smack on the back of his head from Iwaizumi. Suga cooed over the picture and turned the phone to show everyone. The mood picked up immediately now that everyone knew that Tendou was safely with his other pack.

 

Ushijima’s stomach growled loudly and the whole table started laughing. Ushijima shrugged his shoulders and looked down at his plate.

 

“I guess I should eat.”

 

\---

 

The team made it through to the quarterfinals of the World Cup and were set to fly to America the next morning for the remainder of the tournament. Ushijima had turned in for the night, saying that he wanted to make sure he had everything packed for the next morning. After getting everything except a change of clothes and his toiletries packed he laid down on his bed, his head resting on Maccachin. He grabbed the omamori that Tendou had given him when he first left and twirled it between his fingers.

 

He stared up at the ceiling, all the lights were off and the curtains were shut. He couldn’t help the overwhelming feeling of emptiness that had been sweeping over him from time to time as they had been travelling. He used to love going places when he was younger, but now that he’d been gone for so long he was beginning to resent being away from home.

 

He sighed and let his eyes slip closed. He needed to get some sleep, the first couple days in a new country were always free days so they could sight-see and get souvenirs. The omegas really knew how to shop and everyone had to help carry bags, even if they didn’t have a partner shopping.

 

He dreamt that he was back home in his apartment. The old pack was with him and had brought up a large pot of hayashi that was sitting on the stove. They somehow fit a long table in his apartment and everyone was sitting around it. Semi had a baby girl in his lap and she was making grabby-hands at Shirabu, who smiled and picked her up. Tendou was sitting next to him with a smile. He opened his mouth to say something and-

 

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

 

Ushijima flung his hand to the nightstand to shut off the alarm clock. It had been so long since he and Tendou had talked with the time differences and busy schedules. They had been limited to messaging and if they got lucky a skype call every couple of weeks. Every time they got into a call Tendou would check on Maccachin. Ushijima had let him know that he took care of Maccachin and slept with him every night. He found that he woke up hugging the plushie with his face buried in its fur more often than not.

 

Stupid fucking alarm.

 

He hauled himself out of bed, showered and brushed his teeth. He packed away his pajamas and toiletries and brought his bags down to the lobby with Maccachin under his arm. It was a couple days before Christmas so carols were playing in the lobby as he waited for his team. He started to hum along to them since they were being played in another language and he didn’t want to confuse passersby.

 

The rest of the team got down to the lobby and they all loaded onto the shuttle and went to the airport. They had to wait a short while for their flight so they all invaded the Starbucks closest to their gate and enjoyed a coffee to bring them into the real world. Their boarding and flight went off without much trouble.

 

They landed in Los Angeles in the early evening and checked into their hotel before going out to find food. They discovered that the train system was not very user friendly, especially to foreigners. It took three of them coordinating GPS apps on their phones to find the restaurant they wanted to go to.

 

As they got inside the overhead speakers gave them a break from the non-stop Christmas carols playing throughout the city. Suga had the forethought to call ahead for a reservation but it still took about fifteen minutes for them to get an area large enough for their party to be cleared.

 

Ushijima sat and closed his eyes to focus on listening to the music. There were a couple catchy pop tunes he recognized before another song came on that caught his attention.

 

_“Well you only need the light when it’s burning low._

 

_Only miss the sun when it starts to snow._

 

_Only know you love her when you let her go._

 

_Only know you’ve been high when you’re feeling low._

 

_Only hate the road when you’re missing home._

 

_Only know you love her when you let her go,_

 

_And you let her go…”_

 

The song immediately brought Tendou to mind, but he shook his head and distracted himself. He could think about that later when he had the man in front of him. They were seated soon after and he was able to focus on conversations with the others and his food for now. The nagging feeling in the back of his mind left him unsettled throughout the meal, but if the others noticed they didn’t say anything.

 

They ended up hailing a couple taxis back to the hotel after dinner just to avoid having to use the trains to get back. After they got back to the hotel they put their leftovers in the refrigerators in their rooms and went back out to walk the streets to look at the Christmas decorations.

 

All the couples walked hand in hand, with a couple of them pressing their sides together in a practiced motion. Oikawa walked in front of the group, greeting people and taking pictures and clearing a path for them. Ushijima held up the rear, not wanting to be in the way and not willing to be the center of attention like Oikawa.

 

Unfortunately for him this left his mind to wander back to the song he heard earlier. He thought about his other pack back home and how he missed them, how he missed Tendou more than the others, and one of the last things Tendou said to him before he left.

 

_“Wakatoshi-kun, you need to let me go.”_

 

Ushijima sighed and tightened his hands into fists. Why did he have to realize this _now_ when he’s so far away? He thought to himself _‘I shouldn’t have let him go…’_ and resolved to tell Tendou the second he saw him. He would be home in less than two weeks, Tendou said he would be there when he landed, and he was never letting him go again.

 

\---

 

They beat China in the quarter-finals and narrowly beat the US in the semis. The press had each of the players in various interviews, most of them were surrounding Oikawa like usual. The Shiratorizawa pack went through various streams after the match to finally find the one showing Ushijima’s interview.

 

_“Do you have a strategy for when you go against Brazil in the finals?”_

 

_“Well, one of the pack omegas is an incredibly talented manager. She said she would get information for us and we could all go over it together to make a strategy.”_

 

_“One of your pack omegas?”_

 

_“Yes, her name is Yachi and she’s Yaku’s girlfriend. She’s still a high school student but she’s also the one who came up with our current formation.”_

 

_“She sounds impeccable. Is your omega here too?”_

 

Tendou’s heart sank and he shifted in his seat. Semi pulled him closer and gave him a hug. Ushijima chuckled and gave a small smile. The pack turned their attention back to the screen in shock.

 

_“Well… I don’t have an omega, but in the time I’ve been away from him I’ve discovered there’s one who I want to be mine.”_

 

Tendou’s back straightened and everyone turned to look at him excitedly.

 

_“He calls me miracle boy, but to me it’s more a miracle that I met him. I can’t wait to get home to tell him.”_

 

The whole pack started cheering and Tendou sat there in shock, tears streaming down his face. He couldn’t believe what he just heard. His first instinct was to go straight to Ushijima, but he was a whole ocean away. He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he didn’t hear the others discussing plane tickets around him.

 

“Satori, what are you doing? Stop sitting there and go pack!”

 

Semi’s voice snapped him out of his dazed state.

 

“Pack?”

 

“Your flight is at 10 tonight. Get your ass in gear!”

 

“Flight?”

 

Semi sighed.

 

“You weren’t actually planning on just sitting here and waiting were you? Go get your man!”

 

Tendou’s eyes lit up and he nodded before rushing off to pack a small suitcase with some clothes and his overnight kit. He rummaged through his drawers and found his passport and stuffed it in his pocket.  He grabbed his things and walked out of his room to see the whole pack beaming at him. Yamagata was twirling his keys on his finger with a smirk on his face.

 

“Let’s get you to the airport.”

 

Tendou nodded and gave everyone a hug before heading to the door. Shirabu grabbed the collar of his shirt from behind and Tendou choked in surprise. Shirabu thrusted his laptop bag at him.

 

“You better skype us after everything is settled.”

 

Tendou wrapped him up in a tight hug and Shirabu struggled to get out of his grip. Semi pushed him out the door with a laugh.

 

“Satori, be safe. We’ll see you when you both come back!”

 

Tendou turned around and gave him a quick hug before running off to Yamagata’s ready and waiting car.

 

“I love you too, Eita-kun! I’ll see you guys when I get back!”

 

They reached the airport in record time. Tendou gave Yamagata a quick hug before grabbing his things and heading into security. He barely had time to grab a coffee before his flight was being called to board. The team was only able to get him a flight that night by paying for first class. He really needed to pay them back later.

 

He got settled into his seat and paid for the in-flight wi-fi. It was too early for him to call Yachi with the time difference. He watched a couple movies and about halfway through the ten-hour flight he pulled up skype and set up his headset and microphone. He sent Yachi a message and waited.

 

_“Hitoka, are you with the others?”_

 

_“Sure am! We just dropped the team off at the venue. Is everything okay, Tendou-sempai?”_

 

_“Yup. Can you guys do a video call where you are?”_

 

_“Yeah, let me get everyone. Hold on.”_

 

Yachi sent the call request when they were all settled and Tendou gave them a small wave. They all smiled and waved back and then Suga’s face twisted in confusion.

 

_“Tendou, where are you? That doesn’t look like your room.”_

 

Tendou smiled at him and lifted the computer so that they could see the rows of seats behind him. He heard the others gasping and saying ‘no way’ before he brought the computer back down.

 

_“TENDOU-SEMPAI ARE YOU COMING OUT TO WATCH THE MATCH?!”_

 

“Mmhmm, I have something to tell Wakatoshi-kun. Keep it a secret?”

 

_“OF COURSE! OH MY GOD WE HAVE TO MAKE ARRANGEMENTS! WHEN DOES YOUR FLIGHT LAND?”_

 

“They said about 3:26 pm local time. The wind is working against us apparently.”

 

_“Five hours. I can work with that. I’ve had a ticket ready for you every match just in case you came so I already have your ticket. We’ll come get you at the airport, don’t worry about a thing! OH MY GOD I’M SO EXCITED!”_

 

Tendou chuckled a little and held a finger up to pursed lips.

 

“I can’t be too loud, it’s basically 3 am for me and everyone else on this flight. I’m ready to see all of you again, it’s been too long. I’ve missed you.”

 

The other omegas were crying and smiling. Suga wiped his eyes with the heel of his hand.

 

_“We’ve missed you too Tendou. We’ll see you in a few hours. It’s about damn time you guys got your acts together.”_

 

“Well, you can thank Wakatoshi-kun for this. He indirectly confessed in the interview after the semi-finals and I couldn’t stay still anymore.”

 

The other omegas stared back at the screen in shock before Hanamaki huffed out in disbelief.

 

_“I can’t believe this. He didn’t tell any of us, what a brat.”_

 

Yachi smiled brightly at the camera.

 

_“I KNEW HE LIKED YOU! He called out to you with your first name that one time on the train when you were touch starved. I don’t think he even noticed.”_

 

Tendou blushed and looked off to the side with a light chuckle.

 

“Well, I’m gonna try to get some sleep before I get there. I’m counting on your help Hitoka, I’d just get lost there.”

 

_“I’ve got you covered, Tendou-sempai. Just message me your flight info before you go to bed and I’ll handle it from there.”_

 

Tendou nodded, bid farewell, and ended the call. He sent the flight info to Yachi and closed the laptop. He packed it and his snacks he had out for the movie away and reclined his seat all the way back. He let his eyes slip closed and fell asleep.

 

The flight attendant came by with about 20 minutes left in the flight and woke him up. She offered to get him coffee which he gratefully accepted. He made sure everything was packed away and put his seat back up and got ready to disembark. After he got off the plane he went to baggage claim and grabbed his bag.

 

The second he got outside he was nearly knocked over by Yachi who had come running for him. The other omegas followed shortly thereafter and finished knocking him to the ground. He laughed and wrapped his arms around as many of them as he could.

 

“I missed you guys so much.”

 

Yachi was crying into his chest. She quickly composed herself and stood up, followed by everyone else. Daichi and Akaashi helped Tendou to his feet.

 

“There’s no time to waste. Tendou-sempai, this is Matsuoka-san. He’s one of the team’s assistants and I asked him to come take care of your bags. The match starts in a half hour, we need to hurry.”

 

Tendou grabbed his phone from his bag and handed everything off to Matsuoka. The omegas all loaded into the shuttle they had brought and took off for the stadium. Yachi explained how the tournament has been working and how they were going to get to their seats.

 

The traffic was heavier than usual because everyone was trying to get to the stadium for the event. By the time they were able to get inside the first set had already started. They decided to wait until after the match to let the team know about the newest arrival.

 

\---

 

Half way through the first set Ushijima thought he could hear Tendou’s voice in the crowd. He shook his head to get his mind back on the game. The Japanese team took two of the first three sets. The nagging feeling that Tendou was close wouldn’t leave Ushijima alone and in the fourth set he was getting progressively more distracted.

 

Oikawa noticed that he wasn’t playing like his normal self and after their last time-out for the set Oikawa slapped him hard between the shoulders.

 

“Let’s get this over with.”

 

Ushijima nodded and went into the game more focused than ever. The fourth set went to a deuce and the Japanese team was at match point. The rally went back and forth and both teams were getting steadily more exhausted. The Brazilian team slammed the ball down and Yaku picked it up. The receive was off and Oikawa ran to where the ball was coming down.

 

“Ushiwaka-chan!”

 

Ushijima nodded and waited for the toss. The ball flew high and he ran up, jumped as high as he could, and slammed the ball straight through the blockers. The crowd cheered and the press rushed onto the court, most surrounding Oikawa but each player having at least one reporter interviewing them. The same reporter from the semi-finals approached Ushijima again.

 

“Ushijima-san. How does it feel to have scored the final point to win the world cup?”

 

Ushijima gave an exhausted smile.

 

“It’s nice for this to finally be over. I’m really looking forward to going home, there’s-“

 

“MIRACLE BOYYY!”

 

Ushijima’s back straightened then he and the other alphas turned to the source of the shout. There was his favorite flash of red hair, standing on the barrier surrounding the court so he could be seen over the crowd.

 

“WAKATOSHIIIIIIIIIII!”

 

Ushijima stared in shock.

 

“Tendou…”

 

He started tearing through the crowd on the court. The other alphas all started celebrating and giving each other high fives, the press all stood there confused. One of the reporters approached the group who were all still laughing and smiling at each other.

 

“What’s going on?”

 

Kuroo looked over at the reporter.

 

“Something better than winning the World Cup.”

 

The cameras immediately panned over to where Ushijima was running. Tendou jumped from the barrier into his arms and they both spun around a couple times. Ushijima flushed red and looked down at the omega.

 

“You’re here…”

 

Tendou flashed a bright smile up at him.

 

“I’m here. I heard you had something to tell me, and I didn’t want to wait to hear it.”

 

Ushijima clutched Tendou close to his chest and started to cry.

 

“I’m sorry that I didn’t bring you with me. I shouldn’t have let you go, I love you so much.”

 

Tendou’s eyes flooded with tears as he brought his hands to rest on the alpha’s back.

 

“I love you too, Wakatoshi-kun.”

 

Ushijima pulled back, rested a hand on Tendou’s cheek, then pulled him in for a kiss. The whole stadium roared again and cameras flashed from all directions. Suddenly, Matsukawa shouted from the court.

 

“We’ve been waiting long enough you two! We’re expecting babies, and lots of them!”

 

Both Ushijima and Tendou lifted a hand in the air with a thumbs up but never broke the kiss. When they finally did break it Tendou immediately buried his face in Ushijima’s neck and scented him.

 

“I’ve missed you so much, Wakatoshi-kun.”

 

“I’ve missed you too, Satori.”

 

Tendou pulled back and looked at him in shock. Ushijima’s brows furrowed with a pout.

 

“I can call you that, right?”

 

Tendou gave him a teary-eyed smile.

 

“Of course you can!”

 

The other omegas ran to their partners, gave them kisses and congratulated them. Oikawa looked at all the couples with a sigh. He turned around and took a selfie with everyone else behind him kissing. He posted it to twitter with _“#forever alone”_ as the caption and went over to the press to handle the interviews.

 

After the awards ceremony and press conference the group went back to the hotel, all opting to stay in and order room service after the long day. Tendou pulled out Shirabu’s laptop and motioned for Ushijima to sit next to him on the bed.

 

“Everyone wanted to say hi. I already messaged Eita-kun to get everyone together on our way here, so they should all be ready.”

 

Tendou hit the call button, when it was answered he was greeted by Goshiki’s face taking up the entire frame.

 

_“TENDOU-SAAAANNNN!”_

 

Both men laughed and smiled back.

 

“Tsutomu!”

 

“Hello, Goshiki.”

 

_“USHIJIMA-SAN TOO!”_

 

Kawanishi yanked Goshiki back by the collar so everyone could see. The whole pack was beaming at the pair. Reon shook his head.

 

_“I swear Wakatoshi, if you hadn’t figured it out on your own we all would have forced you to realize it pretty soon. Satori’s been in love with you for years.”_

 

Tendou blushed and started sputtering before covering his face. Ushijima quirked an eyebrow up and looked over at him.

 

“Is that true, Satori?”

 

 _“HE FIRST NAMED HIM!”_ the rest of the pack shouted in unison, causing Tendou to curl further into himself. Ushijima frowned.

 

“There’s no need to be embarrassed, Satori. Come here.”

 

Ushijima pulled Tendou into his lap, eliciting a surprised squeak from the omega and a shocked gasp on the other side of the call.

 

_“I feel like we shouldn’t be watching this.”_

 

_“Not watching this my ass, Taichi. I’ve been waiting almost four years for this shit.”_

 

Tendou’s face was nearly as red as his hair when he finally looked up to meet Ushijima’s gaze. Ushijima smiled back at him and pressed their foreheads together.

 

“I’m sorry I took so long then. Will you let me make it up to you?”

 

Tendou gave a short nod and Ushijima gave him a quick kiss to the lips.

 

“Good, I’ll make up for every minute I’ve made you wait.”

 

Tendou’s brain short circuited and he buried his face in Ushijima’s neck while the rest of the pack stared in shock, unable to say anything. Ushijima held Tendou in place before looking back over at the screen.

 

“So, Semi, how are you feeling?”

 

Everyone shook their heads to come back to reality.

 

_“Oh, um, good. The doctor said she was developing just fine. I do still have to pee every 30 minutes or so though, that’s something I am NOT going to miss about being pregnant. I’ve been a bit clingier with Kenji lately though.”_

 

Shirabu scoffed.

 

 _“A_ **_bit?_ ** _I can’t leave your side for five minutes. I have to scent like 5 sweaters before I go to the dorms and again in the morning just so you can last.”_

 

Semi frowned at him.

 

 _“Well,_ **_excuse me_ ** _for being pregnant and wanting you to be near me._ ”

 

Ushijima quirked his head to the side.

 

“These are the circumstances where he can live with you instead of in the dorms right? I thought they allowed couples who were having a child to live off campus.”

 

Semi nodded.

 

_“We’re just waiting for the paperwork to finish being processed. Should be ready by the end of the week.”_

 

“Oh, good. Then Satori can live with me.”

 

Yamagata choked on the tea he was drinking and Tendou fell off Ushijima’s lap.

 

_“WHAT?!”_

 

Ushijima quickly scrambled to help Tendou get upright and checked to see if he was alright, then turned back to the screen.

 

“Is that not what we should do? If I’m going to be his alpha and mate we should live together, not three hours apart.”

 

Reon chuckled.

 

_“We can’t really argue with that logic, but have you even talked to Satori about that yet? I think he’s stopped breathing.”_

 

Ushijima turned to see Tendou taking rapid, shallow breaths. The whole situation was a bit overwhelming for him. The shameless showering of affection coupled with the sudden declaration that they would be living together was making his mind whirl and everything else became a blur. Ushijima called out to him but his mind was so fuzzy that nothing registered until Ushijima had grabbed him by the face and made him focus.

 

The alpha had a worried look in his eyes while he ran his thumbs along Tendou’s cheekbones in an effort to calm him down. He took a couple deep breaths to slow his breathing and gave a small smile.

 

“Satori, if you don’t want to live together that’s fine. I don’t want to push-“

 

Tendou violently shook his head.

 

“NO! That’s not- that wasn’t- ugh, I don’t know. It was just a lot to take in at once, Wakatoshi-kun. Of course I want to live with you.”

 

_“Good, because I’m gonna need to turn your room into a nursery”_

 

Tendou snapped his head back to the laptop with a glare.

 

“You were gonna kick me out anyway? So harsh, Eita-kun!”

 

_“Reon wasn’t kidding about us making him realize it after he came back if he didn’t figure it out on his own. We know you didn’t want to jeopardize his career because you wanted to be his omega, but that wasn’t fair to you either Satori. Most of the team has omegas and even Yaku and Yachi aren’t mated and live apart like you guys were. You could have made it work, but you were too stubborn and scared to say anything.”_

 

Tendou looked away and hid his face.

 

“I had every reason to be scared… He didn’t show any interest, his family is influential and probably don’t want a lesser-born omega like me, and he was leaving us all behind. What kind of person would that make me if I tried to hold onto him if he could do better?”

 

Ushijima growled, low and deep, startling Tendou.

 

“And what, exactly, makes you think you aren’t the best?”

 

Ushijima leaned forward and gently nuzzled into Tendou’s scent glands with a sigh.

 

“I love you, Satori. Please don’t be so down on yourself. You’re perfect just the way you are, and the only thing that can stop me from being your alpha is you.”

 

Tendou’s breath hitched as he started to cry. He wrapped his arms around Ushijima and gripped his shirt as tight as he could. Ushijima pulled him into his lap and rubbed his back while whispering soft encouragements and ‘I love you’s into his ear. Semi waved in front of the camera to catch Ushijima’s eye and typed in a message.

 

_“We’ll see you guys when you get back. Congratulations and we love you both. Take good care of Satori.”_

 

Ushijima smiled and Semi ended the call. Tendou’s sobbing turned into light sniffles and eventually even breaths. The lack of sleep coupled with all the excitement followed by the crying tired him out.

 

Ushijima gingerly laid him on the bed and put the laptop away. He changed into his pajamas and slowly slipped under the covers, trying to not disturb Tendou. He placed Maccachin between the two of them and positioned himself as close to Tendou as he could before letting his eyes slip closed and falling asleep himself.

 

\---

 

The team had several interviews and press conferences over the next couple days before they could go home. The omegas kept themselves busy by organizing a surprise for their alphas and Oikawa for when they landed back in Japan. The couples all sat together on the flight back and Oikawa was seated next to a very pretty omega woman who seemed to want nothing to do with his charms.

 

Their flight landed in the early afternoon. Everyone went and got their bags and walked to where their bus was supposed to be waiting. The omegas hung back as the alphas walked up and found the crowd that was waiting for them. All their old packs and even Karusuno were there to greet them.  

 

“SURPRISE!”

 

The alphas all dropped their bags and everyone else started laughing. The omegas came up from behind and gave their partners hugs. Hanamaki gave Matsukawa a kiss on the cheek.

 

“Did we get you guys?”

 

“Yeah…”

 

“We rented out a ramen place too. It’s down the street and we have our reservations in a half hour. We already made arrangements for our stuff, so let’s get going.”

 

The rest of the crowd cheered and the omegas all leaned in to whisper something to their alphas. They made their way into the ramen place that had several tables ready and waiting. After everyone got settled Daichi cleared his throat. Everyone in the restaurant except Oikawa placed a finger to their nose.

 

Oikawa’s mouth popped open as he looked at everyone surrounding him with smirks on their faces. His face contorted from shock to horror and he shrieked.

 

“I CAN’T PAY FOR EVERYONE!”

 

“Those are the rules Shittykawa. It’s a good thing you don’t have an omega to spend all your money on. I’ll get your bowl so don’t even think about skipping out on eating because of this.”

 

Oikawa whined and put his face on the table.

 

“I’m not paying for drinks.”

 

Everyone cheered as Oikawa resigned himself to his fate. The packs had all intermingled to learn more about each other. The tiny redhead from Karasuno couldn’t seem to decide on who he wanted to hang out with. He bounced from Goshiki to Bokuto to some quiet kid from Nekoma who let the roots grow out on his bleached blonde hair.

 

The omegas surrounded Semi who was positively glowing in his emerald green maternity dress. The cold weather hadn’t been friendly to him so he had a couple blankets over his legs and a sweater on. Shirabu wasn’t pleased to be forced away from his pregnant mate but knew he would be safe.

 

He allowed himself to hang out with the omega pack leader from Seijoh that took over after Oikawa left. They soon discovered that when put together they were saltier than the dead sea and a force to be reckoned with. After some practice matches were arranged the blonde alpha with racer stripes along the back of his head came and stole the omega’s attention away.

 

After about an hour it came time to pay. Oikawa whimpered as he pulled out his wallet, but when everyone else pulled out money he looked around confused.

 

“Huh?”

 

Hanamaki looked over at him with a smirk.

 

“Did you really think we were gonna do that to you Hanger? This is to celebrate with you guys. Just pay for your own food, stupid.”

 

The sigh that came out of Oikawa’s chest was enough to make him sink to the floor. Everyone roared with laughter and they all paid for their food. Large tips were left in return for dealing with their shenanigans.

 

The Miyagi packs took the last train back home and the Tokyo packs all went back to their part of the city while the national team went back to their apartments. Tendou pulled out the key that Ushijima had given him before he left and unlocked the door. Ushijima put a hand on his shoulder to ask him to stay put before walking inside. After taking two steps in he turned around with a smile and an outstretched hand.

 

“Welcome home.”

 

Tendou jumped excitedly into his arms and kissed him.

 

“I’m home.”

 

\---

 

A few months after Tendou moved to Tokyo he was due to start his heat again. Goshiki was fretting and started pacing around his dorm room. Kawanishi had come by to see him at his request and was sitting on his bed waiting for him to tell him what was so important.

 

“Taichi, we have to go see Tendou-san.”

 

“Tsutomu, we just saw him last weekend, what the fuck are you talking about?”

 

Goshiki ran his fingers through his hair and continued pacing.

 

“But Taichi, he _needs_ us. I just don’t know how I’m gonna get the time off from school.”

 

Kawanishi sighed and flopped back to lay on the bed.

 

“He doesn’t need us, Tsutomu.”

 

Goshiki stopped his pacing and looked over at his mate, utterly scandalized.

 

“JUST BECAUSE HE HAS ANOTHER PACK DOESN’T MEAN HE DOESN’T NEED US!”

 

Kawanishi pulled himself back up to a sitting position and grabbed Goshiki’s hand.

 

“Babe, that’s not why he doesn’t need us. He’s not going to need anyone after his heats anymore.”

 

Goshiki stood there and thought about what Kawanishi meant. He wracked his brain for a solid minute before he realized why Tendou wouldn’t need anyone anymore and grimaced.

 

“Ew.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry but nobody wants to think about their parents having sex. Poor Tsutomu.
> 
> Shamelessly in love Ushi is my aesthetic. Tendou deserves someone who isn't afraid to show their love and Ushi is so straightforward that he would be shameless. 
> 
> I'm so glad this fic is done. I ended up cutting several plot points because otherwise it would have ended up at like 50k, and I didn't have the patience to keep going.
> 
> You can find me on tumblr [@harvestmoonpeoples](http://harvestmoonpeoples.tumblr.com/).


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